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DRAMATIC POEMS. 



BY ^ 

WILLIAM ENTRIKEK BAILY. 

I* 



.... Shall I call 
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece? 

—Milton. 



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APftxOidy4*. 
Printed fok the Author. J ^Tff^C^^^f 



PHILADELPHIA: "^^ VVASH^** ^ 



1894. 









Copyright, 1894, by 
William Entkiken Baily. 



DRAMATIC POEMS 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia 7 

Priam, King of Troy 38 

Andromache in Captivity 69 

The Daughters of CEdipus 92 



DRAMATIC POEMS 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 

THE PERSONS. 

Agamemnon, the Grecian commander, 
Achilles, a Grecian leader. 
Clytemnestra, wife to Agamemnon. 
Iphigenia, daughter to Agamemnon. 

SCENE Z— At Aulis. 

Iphigenia alone. 

Iph. Ah, woe is me! alone to die! — foredoomed 
To heir this ill so soon! What visions haunt, 
As if from realms below, my memory! 
I would not have the naked truth reveal 
The providence of Fate; a pause must give 
To fancy yet its spell, relieving it 
Of the dim things oppressive to control. 
'Tis maidenhood would live, life's spring, life's hues 
To have, as has the blossom's beauty hued 
To germinate in fruit. Thus sad it is 
(For flesh is e'er suppliant for its own) 
To sue for being's self from him who gave — 
Who is a part of me, and I of him; — 

(7) 



8 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

The final vital link of child with sire 
To separate, to be a ghost in night 
Perpetual veiled! . . . Still moments mutable 
Their feelings form, impressing with a thrill, 
This instant sent. Despair gives birth to hope, 
And hope to peace, as perished voices come 
Assuring all is well. Endurance then 
Must its requital have. A father's words 
Withal the heart condones, as bows the head 
In bitter duty borne to sacrifice. 
The gods contriving and attesting it! 

Enter Clytemnestka. 

Clyt. What lot for thee, my child! Deliberate 
I cannot on it with what patience teaches. 
My husband! — so to wander from himself 
As false to be to thee; thy father once. 
Destroyer now — the Hours that beat down men 
To dust, their rulings to anticipate; 
And thou so young, so fair! . . . Must he his own. 
My own, repudiate, nor leave me plead 
For it? What righteousness is there? Oh, plight 
Of woman, why bid go to man for joy. 
And going so, too often find there woe? 

Iph. Behooves thee not complaining of our lord, 
Tliy husband, when as agent he submits 
To grim necessity. Forthwith he parts 
With me, 't is from his flesh, as much as if 
With his right arm, subjecting the intent 



THE SACBIFICE OF IFHIGENIA. 9 

Obedient to Diana's wish. In heaven she, 

On earth we — how attain can we as shades 

Eegions Elysian, to espouse ourselves 

To happiness, supernal there, opposed 

As mortals to the laws bestowing it? 

We forfeit favors by disloyalty 

Unto the powers above surmounting kings. 

Clyt. Alas! my child, as this to hear thee utterl 
To bear a victim for the altar who. 
In blindness to her ties, o'errules now me! 
Sad fruit of cares, ungrateful daughter thou! . . . 
Affection now grow cold! Consoling e'er 
Again, welcome not its life-flame to meet 
Love with contrary qualities! . . . What, both — 
A husband and a daughter — turned against 
The mother and the wife in one! But, no! — 
It must not be confronted thus. Come, strength, 
A barrier to the heart's infirmity. 
To aid the mind to act 'gainst present ills! . . . 
Iphigenia, we must move to thwart 
Thy father's purpose. Thou, in lethargy. 
Art conscious not of will. Let it arouse; 
Be leader hence with mine; be rational 
To risk what must be met; thus meeting it, 
In reason's triumph thy salvation find. 
Thus men proceed to ends, why women not? 

Ipli. Mother, beware! I shall not follow thee. 
Be ruled by confidence that what 's to come. 
Though evil, good promotes. I 've shed some tears; 
I 've pleadings made impelled by selfishness; 



10 BBAMATIC POEMS. 

I 've wrestled with a spirit grieved within, 
Uncertain, though achieving what I would, 
To call it victory. Then heedful be, 
Dear mother; for persuasion thine so warm 
Falls on cold ears. 

Clyt. Thee Aulis hath confused; 

Thou shouldst be home in Argos. Loss is here ! — 
Salvation thine I need, in pang my want. 

Iph. Wanting supplies the pang, and not the need. 

Clyt, A mother seeks her offspring's charity! 

Iph. This same is due from thee to him, my sire. 

Clyt. I would have thee his wish obey at first, 
And disobey anon. Subjected thus. 
My bosom bears a share of fickleness. 
Wliat is within is comprehended not; 
Wliat is without no less is dark, not plain. 
Darkness, it seems to me, is evil's own, 
Not tenable by virtue, that pursues 
The free and wholesome light. Hence when 't is bid 
For thee to die, I fear 'tis but the craft 
Of men so ord'ring to accomplish what 
They suffer not to be proclaimed; or, next. 
Conceive I 't is the working of the gods 
Upon these men, in some undeemed behalf 
Of justice, 'gainst its foes to counteract. 
Thus is my mind swayed to and fro — thus why 
I would have thee his wish obey at first, 
And disobey anon. 

Mcit Iphigenia. 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 11 

She 's gone! She heard, 
But pondering lost the sense of what I spoke. 
To be confuted thus 't is pitiful ! 



SCENE II. 

Agamemnon alone. 

Aga. Unfortunate my portion if to strive 
Do not I to unlink what holds us here, 
Aulis! Ambition deals with us with cold 
Keserve of mastership that lacketh trust 
In us, and to another nature than 
Our own makes us appear akin. It seems 
The heart is severed from the mind; it is 
Apart, with pity faint, asleep to thought, 
Save that which stirs solicitude. Thus moved, 
It is compunction first; assurance next. 
That headlong would be first, and to prevail. 
Points that endurance is a chain now gross 
To wear. What privilege hath freedom's wing! 
But Aulis rules with bitter jealousy, 
Her winds not fa v 'ring Greece. It seems that Troy, 
By her protected, Heaven protects it, too, 
Instilling by degrees a daunted sense, 
That numbs — ambition's bane! — that men the chief 
Yield to — a superstition in the breast, 
Which shows despite itself we objects are 
Of vague decrees from high; yet so direct 
Their causes hidden to fulfill I . . . Calchas, 



12 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Approaching Menelaus, Ulysses, I, 
Was made to utter what, with touch prolonged, 
Makes shudders steal. Industrious as I am 
"With reveries, unfolding thought o'er thought. 
Deep in futurity to know the fates, 
"VVliat pain to learn Diana wroth demands 
A victim from my family — from me, 
The king of kings, of those as great as I 
The cynosure! It to complain was just 
(Although Ulysses proved it otherwise, 
Making respected and respecting pleas 
Answer persuasion well) unto the gods 
That she, my daughter, Iphigenia 
(Betrothed to the resistless Achilles), 
Must bend in sacrifice I Fruitless complaint 
Is witness proving fault in making it. 
Hereby comforted, pacing to and fro. 
Atoning with reflections for the ear 
Of Heaven, I observe abroad, and hark 
As if kind Heaven is responsive thus: 
^T is for thy own avail these ships go far! 
Then musing know the goddess to appease 
Is to have means to reach the Asian shore. 
That step of glory fraught with Trojan doom. 
Kext conscience dictates what I do, virtues 
Inspiring it; else would I feel not part 
In right supported not in part by them. 
Thus are the deeds of greatness born in what 
Seems crime, the merit leaving to outlast 
The blemish, and to hallow it for aye. 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 13 



Enter Clytemnestra. 

Clyt. Must your own daughter on the altar die? 
To be the bride of Achilles; now not: 
Felicity to persecution joined! 

Aga. She 's pledged by me, with honor absolute. 

Clyt. With honor absolute! What term is this? 
This Helen, lo! is she to be the bane 
Of Greece so far, and still besides unknown? 
Must war for her impress you so against 
Your blood transmitted to the one that woke 
Your love with baby energy, your beard 
With her wee palms outstretching to displace 
And pluck? Now this gift from the gods, as 't was 
Your wont to say, disowned must be, in view 
To gratify fulfilled the promise made 
Of Asia's government to that of Greece, 
You sovereign. An oracle speaks what 
He wills, with outer show of truth to win 
His cause, and inner error moving him. 
And he, deceiving, self deceives. Thus from 
A spring impure, so acrid to the taste, your mind 
Contaminate proceeds to act! . . . Defend, 
Ye skies, from what inhuman is! — from what 
No mercy can approve — restoring us 
Domestic bliss lost in opprobrium! 

Aga. O wife! far Troy in dark renown must fall. 
She breeds catastrophe, aflecting men 
With passion, tyranny and perfidy. 
It is a vital force, not conquered soon 



14 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Is conqueror, debasing to endure: 

Kot wisdom's choice its menace to connive; 

Not valor's to decline when it confronts; 

But both, in concord acting, aim to serve 

Through war's turmoils to found posthumous rights, 

Their foe barbarous forcing to constraint. 

Glyt, Doth love of equity you urge to bear 
This manner changed? Is the excuse for it 
Not hued by falsehood, that ashamed is placed 
Behind what is ostensible to those 
Who see amiss? Your nature you condemns 
E'en to benignity, to palliate 
So ready. Time must show it mockery, 
Leading you forward to contrition's vale. 
What pride is yours to serve in majesty 
Of sacrifice, impressing twenty kings, 
Greece, too, as lord of all, in spurning ties 
Of duty as the father of your child! 

Aga. Helpmeet, why futile chide? 'Tis Destiny 
Commands; submitting thus incline thyself. 
A king's own joy is not his diadem. 
What I possess I owe to Jupiter; 
To him all must be first, myself be last. 
He rules, inscrutable, appearing just 
To faith resigned to power supreme. ^VTiat can 
I less than yield unto the course of things, 
He forming them; by means to strive as man 
Approval his to win, and thence endowed 
(For such we are at best with spell divine), 
In life, in death, be part of him my soul? 



THE SACBIFIGE OF IPHIGENIA. 15 

So innate this impulse, it would expand; 
Ascends it oft, as oft descends in grief; 
It as the mariner on ocean views 
An infinite comprising space in vain; 
Its sole temptation is the fruit of Time 
(Outvying far the clustered gems of Bacchus !) 
With bays by, reached to be through jeopardy; 
Its standard, heroic Hercules — man's 
Thought eminent, woman's misconception. 

Clyt. An Argonaut, with tale score-told of past 
Exploits, your aim! — still foe to the idea 
Iphigenia should be your primal care! 
Is this something, this soul-search for a goal 
(Which you allures, astray you leaving oft), 
Absorbing passion, void of love domestic? — 
Your daughter fit for Lethe's dark embrace, 
By martial drift cast there! What purpose next 
May lead you on I know not; but a fear 
Presages that my fate, at your behest. 
In turn may yield in shameful union joined 
With hers. Ah, there must surely lurk within 
You a perversion that, unseen of any, 
Strides on, relentless, acting that unfeigned 
With furtive brow, conspiring more and more 
Unto a haughty soul to minister, 
Your family to doom to perdition! 

Aga. So extravagant 'gainst the circumstance 
Investing us at Aulis here; of Heaven 
Defiant, too! Necessity requires 
A deed of dread; alone, how dark! but placed 



16 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Beside that which conjoins the country's weal 

To armed hosts here (to whom infallible 

Was promised much), it darkness seems exchanged 

For dawn. Iphigenia, so tractable, 

So modest, self-adaptful to events, 

So like a child in tempered womanhood. 

The mandate harsh full knows recoils my heart. 

Too fond at times, to bid that done which left 

Undone shall peril all. Myself would fall 

Upon embattled fields, subserving Greece, 

Feeling the death would be a monument 

Outlasting what I am. I would have her, 

My child, to die, no less to reap effect 

From such a cause — a daughter vain in war, 

Still aiding it, her honor, too, by one 

Day's death submissive to Diana's best. 

Clyt. Husband, it looks as if this madness were; 
Or else an attitude of humor yoked 
With those who would undo, to raise themselves. 
Your household kindred. ... It is Calchas' sin! 
His artifice advantage counts for self. 
Thus comes he 'tween a father and a child. 
What prophet knows the path that Time pursues? 
Yet master now, assuming that he does. 
He Greece instructs, its armies here, their chiefs; 
Ignoring royalty, bids kings obey. 
As Menelaus, Ulysses and their friends 
Support him in his tragic offices. 
Thus are you hedged, exaction's prisoner, 
E'en to avow it to yourself too weak! 



THE SACBIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 17 

Aga. O wife! thy fears, while showing love, deny 
What reason would to all corroborate: 
Hence is it vain to make thy passion see; 
Another time submission govern let, 
As 't is m daughter thine exemplified. 

Clyt. When kissing Iphigenia thrice good-by, 
As you were leaving for the war, from Troy 
You promised her the spoils of jewels choice, 
Eare pearls, and weavings inestimable. 
To come to this! What child hereafter knows 
Its father? . . . Menelaus asks sacrifice; 
Would he had he a daughter forming it? 

Exit Agamemnon. 

Alas! he, too, moves coldly from my side 
As Iphigenia. Alienated, 
Despite myself, I am from those held dear, 
That wander spectre-liko from off my path. 
What can it mean? Perhaps my words to tact 
Were recreant; reacting hence, his mind 
Turns off resolved, in opposition fixed. 
Reproof, more mild, sagacious e'er, for me 
Wins not with truth enclosed within a bur, 
That pricks, arouses, then presents the nut 
To gratify the eye. Thus do I lose 
By pleas — by labor often false with voice 
Of anger, not with that of judgment true. 
Oh, let hereafter be my bosom hard 
The better to control its purposes! 

2-B 



18 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Contemning it as now unworthy, weak, 
Be parent not by half, but father all, 
To rule inflexible and masculine. 

SCENE III. 

Achilles and Clytemnestra. 

Achil. Iphigenia here! ^VTiy is it thus? 
Delayed at Aulis, waiting for the wind 
To puff our sails, our hosts excitable, 
Eager for Troy (in daily menaces 
Her name oft heard), as martial blasts abound. 
We are filled up with enterprising thoughts; 
Kow love comes in contrasting such the more. 

Clyt. How cold is this! Not nature's lover you. 
Love is memorial keeping much in mind. 
Why ask you so, nor leap in joy her here? 

Achil. Fear sees prudently, love impelling it. 
Why did she leave paternal Argive soil? 

Clyt. She left it at the bidding of my lord. 
So underhand! — hath he not told you she 
Has come, her lover you, with right to know? 

Achil. Not he, I swear. He is obliged to me, 
To whom imperial favors have I borne. 
Now he from me himself aloof retires: 
Is this a meed for loyalty? Yet he. 
Now wisely silent, may have cause. Besides, 
Within the camps are casualties, murmurs 
Increasing o'er and o'er. Her advent here 
Does surely not in part occasion them? 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 19 

Clyt. I know not. There is foiling mystery 
Afoot behind impatience everywhere, 
That keeps surmises busy in the mouths, 
As movements ripen in tlieir character. 
My husband is unquiet, meeting me 
At AuHs here (and tlius, too, after me 
In haste to bring) with glances scornful, wild. 
As if intruding I am thwarting too. 

Achil. Was his purport, in calling you both here. 
Touching not me, but other chieftains by? 

Clyt, This you may learn anon. Led on we were 
With aught to make us curious, knowing he 
Thus caught most easily we women are. 
Now here, entrapped as birds in nets by him, 
We face the hazard of conditions hard. 
With worse in store, perhaps, in the unknown. 

Achil. Iphigenia, would he do her harm? — 
No! — not so bold as that. His daughter's face 
Would stand precluding even thought of it. 

Clyt. Alack! I know the motion of his thoughts. 
And how they sway: embodied in shame's action 
His own unsettled self create would not. 
However, he 's environed late by those 
^Yh.o know he 's king by half, the other lamb. 

Achil. 'T is hard to understand what inner cause 
Now underlies with peril, proof so scant. 

Clyt. Believe there 's peril near. The proof is in 
Much seen, much heard. Suspicion's hungry look 
Beholds. Oh, overthrow! — strike at the root 
Ere the obnoxious fruit finds birth in blossom. 



20 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

Achil. Aye! aye! — my happiness on it depends. 
Nature is stirred within to supplement 
What it owes to itself to be content. 
This never is (speak heart!) when she 's in bonds: 
The boundary of her liberty curtailed, 
A martyr to emotion's circumstance. 

Clyt. Eather say you, to Iphigenia pledged: 
Discontent, having ferret's sight, must seek 
Causes in secrecy surrounding her. 

Achil. What must we crawl into forbidden paths? 

Clyt. 'T is well to verify to self the need. 

Achil. What man than Agamemnon dost thou fearV 

Clyt. I think that Calchas has a motive hid. 
And matches mischief with a hand, in what 
It does concealing what it wants. He feigns. 
And piously, 'tis given him dark rights. 

Achil. But Agamemnon, keen observing men, 
In this deluded could not surely be. 

Clyt. What scruples he to borrow, not to pay — 
To profit by a promise e'er unkept? 
iSTow militant, his very breath comes forth 
As neighing courser's. Thus him Calchas finds, 
And he, abetting, makes my husband prone 
To countenance conclusions plausible 
Each fears to say to us in confidence. 
Lest power of ours confronting him defeats. 
Ask you: Why is Iphigenia here? 
Why are you sought to be deceived in this? 
Why shuns my husband, morbid in his tent, 
The broad day's eye, as if alarmed at light? 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIQENIA. 21 

These answer all as best you can, and lo! 
There follows naught assuaging to belief. 

Achil. What is this Calchas? Is he not high-priest 
Of these times chosen, trusted, faithful, mild 
And zealous, stored with lore and laws, sincere 
And frank to strangers needing his advice? 
As sinister, conjecture knows him not. 
Yet with him late too oft Ulysses goes. 
The Ithacan is poor; is double-mouthed, 
Eevolving words to justify his acts; 
His love adventure and its readiness; 
His knack lies in the careless use of self 
To mount and rule. He may in Calchas see 
An advocate, and leading him amiss 
Steals to a goal productive to his claim. 
The chiefs contentious nurse disturbing schemes; 
'T is not alone they war for Menelaus; 
Ambition's weeds impair the planter's skill; 
Kor wonder Agamemnon is distressed. 

Clyt. If so, could he receive his wife, his brows 
Close knit, pompous, repelling, wordy, vague? 
He knows what obstacles intimidate. 
There 's matter that concerns his household which, 
To you and me, is fatal to repose. 
With him according Iphigenia stands, 
Voicing for him what argument forbids. 

Achil. Alack, against us two? If so, 't is one 
That errs obedient to a stronger one, 
And erring will resume anon a course 
Of rectitude, her genial attribute. 



22 DEAMATIO POEMS. 

Clyt. She errs, indeed! Yet she 's variable, 
As if to strive 'gainst agony; then would 
Betime it chide, it smiling down. Her eyes 
Are shaded with dismay, or radiant 
And affable; her voice hath winter's blare. 
Or summer's calm inducing friends to seek 
Her face to face — all in an hour. Still know. 
There is intent behind the seen unseen. 
Drawing these men, about whom we surmise, 
Eluding serpent-like, through artifice 
And labyrinth of watchful policy 
For chance success to favor them. They know 
To you in love is Iphigenia wed; 
Her mother doth in this co-operate; 
Formidable, emphatic, Achilles; 
Therefore they circumspect must be. Arouse! 
Treat them as holding you, their gratitude 
To you as debt likewise despised, until 
They prove by candor errors bias you. 
If not, consider there is risk at stake. 
That must be bravely met by means protective. 

Achil. Yes, yes! methinks of recent subterfuges 
Of Agamemnon, which, convincing half, 
Have that about them which keeps memory. 
Kise they twofold in bulk, evoking what 
Makes seem indices to conspiracy. 

Clyt. With me just so — conspiracy the word! 
We were requested ones to interview 
For reasons that the present findeth not; 
We were told much that once examined left 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 23 

Us doubters questing, point by point forestalled; 

We were informed that you, degenerate. 

Embraced the follies of a warrior's lot. 

Turning your back on sweet, preceding ties — 

On Iphigenia, callous, reckless you! 

Thus here I am (with spies besetting near 

At every corner), issues waiting soon 

In execution dread, 't is known not what. 

'Tis terror maketh women doubly feel, 

So distant from their palace and their home! 

Achil. There must misunderstanding be in this. 
Yet blame not Agamemnon thou for all. 
He may complot some triumph to adorn. 
Hold fast to love, for love rules men. Be not 
Infatuated; soon clear-sightedness 
Keturning, we and others shall rejoice. 

Clyt. He sins by fractions, others helping him, 
Although the sum his all at times appears, 

Achil. This half excuses him with charity. 

Clyt. Still Iphigenia's welfare stands forth first. 

AcMl. Do not I go to rescue Helen held 
By Troy's hard terms, opposing life to death? 
Would I do less for Iphigenia harmed. 
Whose patience hath a voice in pallid looks, 
Whose serenity a solace sheds around. 
Whose soul alone in absence me inspires? 

Clyt. You well refute what was alleged against 
Your faith; and I exult you honor self 
With a demeanor of sincerity: 
My daughter's safety in it lies. 



24 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Achil. There must be in the wind retarding us 
At Aulis here an ill reserved for some 
Impiety, transgressing covertly. . . . 
Ye gods, guile confound, dealing punishment! . . . 
Meanwhile I '11 turn to Agamemnon, still 
His friend (though deep he is!) — I '11 go to him. 
To judge by surface means; and more to know 
Endeav'ring, may through knowledge concord make. 

Exit ACHLLLES. 

Clyt. Oh, let him go in ignorance! Alack! 
This Helen, renegade, outlives; and she, 
More dear, allegiant e'er, to save her dies — 
Dies Iphigenia, the sacred knife to stain; — 
Her father's sentence, judging as in law 
Against his own, with Calchas at the rear 
In arch -deceiving dexterous — these learn 
Let him! There 's more behind — con it let him, 
This more; — and thus together all arouse 
Shall him to such a fury as to make 
The bravest quail; at least, 'tis so proposed. 
Men managed are through passion stirring them 
To do that which defeat serves in the end. 

SCENE IV. 

Agamemnon, Achilles and Iphigenxa.. 

AcMl, I come before j^ou bearing that within 
Which you accusing still excuses you; 
My ear would justify your words, your course, 



THE SACBIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 25 

Your semblance late (not social to converse 
As wont with some), in hearing you unfold. 
Your wife impassioned, suffers and upbraids. 
Your Iphigenia here; why is it so 
To tread upon the thorny path of war? 

Aga. She comes within the shadow of a storm; 
The sun, dispersing clouds, shall glorify 
The dim beginning in the shining end. 

Achil. Her presence here, is it connected with 
The object of our expedition stayed? 

Aga. It is. Late the local divinity 
Consulting Menelaus, Ulysses, I, 
With sacrifice upon her altar, heard. 
With an authoritative voice, proclaim 
To us this Calchas, prophet, what assured 
Shall be, with instance that the future brought 
Within the circle of the present — he 
So potent was! Diana pacified 
Must be, demanding richly, as befits 
An immortal. Offending much I must 
Atone — the stag she favored fell by these 
My hands. Question no more, but Calchas seek. 

Exit Achilles. 

Oh, peace departed, left behind in Argos, 
Refusing to transmarine shores to gol 
^N'ow struggles that, heart-rending, lading with 
The dust, make choke the atmosphere of sense, 
O'erwhelming are! ... He will know all, and that. 



26 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Too, holding gratitude's indebtment o'er; 
For him I owq much, valiant Achilles. 
But how is this? — a thought so trammeling 
Leads back to childhood, confessing dread 
Of him returning. I should dread him not. 
And yet I do. His qualities endowed 
Have strong and noble touches, fit to bear 
The rod of fortitude in cold behalf 
Of duty asking that himself be ruled: 
Let Calchas so dispose his earnestness! 

Enter Iphigenia. 

^Vliat, daughter, here alone! Expected not, 
Yet thou dost come fulfilling to a wish. 
With flush on cheek, composure on thy brow. 

Ipli. My father, dear, I yield to you — to that 
Which claims you most, superior to the self 
That dwells in flesh; — and I no less accede 
To Calchas kind yet stern, a votary 
Upon the current of decree severe 
To be borne, worthy of Minerva's blessing. 

Aga. Think not in error of myself I spoke. 
With mind distorted from affection just. 
Cold in embraces of illusions wild. 
To lead thee on, forever from this life 
Delivered up. An early innocence 
Came forth, as if in mist inspirited. 
From days agone, and woke those sentiments 
That charmed me when thou, upon my knee 
(Arises clear thy infant ecstasy 



THE SACBIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 27 

E'en now in imagery!) wast then in figure 
Invested with the traits of beaut}- — saw 
A woman standing firm in qualities, 
Myself reflected in their excellence — 
And shook my locks in giddy pride of thee. 
Much more, in tenor of this vein, might say 
I now, but such avowal would be turned 
Awry in serving motive that forbids 
Details. To van of thought to forward right 
I owe, it making be from wrongs of state 
By barbarians, by kings iniquitous; 
From overflowing tides of darkness deep, 
The guide ideal. Thus consecrated, I 
AYould to my aim my Iphigenia win. 
Judging her death as bliss beyond the tomb. 

Ipli. I kneel, my father, as I have implied, 
Unto the altar's doom, as if a gate 
It were, to me alone, to Olympus. 

SCENE F. 
Achilles and Iphigenia. 

Achil. From Calchas I have bitter tidings heard. 
Thou dedicated to the altar's rite! 
A\Tiat painful riot in the temper plays! 
Dost thou consent? — Ah, me! thy looks are pale. 

Iph. Duty a golden medium is to joy. 

Achil, Reply of thine it seemed would be just so. 
'T was deemed that thou of me forgetful art. 
Thy eye's familiar is some vision strange. 



28 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

Ipli. Be thou of bravery thine aware to aid 
The will in this emergency imposed. 

Achil. 'T is little thee to shield commanding thou; 
Patroclus mine (a friend to might and valor) 
And the Thessalian host would rescue thee. 

I2)h. Use arms against the judgment seat, upheld 
By motive in the sphere of spheres! Ko, no! 

Achil. Alas, to list! How Calchas' counsels foil! 
]N"ow hard to undergo this double trial. 
Thy father foiling, too — adverse to that 
Late pledge uniting thee to me! Too soon 
This in the dust must under foot be crushed! 

l2Jh. It is unjust to speak of this bygone. 

Achil. In much I am undone. In what is said 
'T is not the choice, but the compulsion speaks. 

ip7i. Remember Agamemnon's realm of Greece 
Is fairest; Iphigenia, princess born. 
His daughter, proud of him, of country, too. 
Will serve them both in yielding to the claim 
Of Diana — country, patriots, father, all 
Subserved — what obligation with a meed! 

Achil. But such a tenor in her delicacy 
Is the advice of chance unsteadiness. 
Or human not — so armed against her friends! 

I2)h. The Parcse with a vigor have instilled 
This frame (that might bear wrinkles and decay) so 
To order and ordain their purposes. 
Musing of it, what noble feelings stir! 

Achil. Shall now forego, Iphigenia, that heart, 
In which those noble feelings are, my own, 



TBE SACBIFIGE OF IPHIQENIA. 29 

Keeping in view no resolution proud 

Averse to me, but winning maidenhood? 

Ah, me! regard that state forlorn of life, 

Thy mother's, and thy lover's, too, anon 

"WTien thou art gone, thy shade with alien shade 

To roam, ne'er to return to earth again! 

Iph. Arousing thus, a spark within myself 
Effects the more the cause with thee. But know 
A father's wisdom stands a daughter's less 
In error's mesh to aid. Inclined to veer 
From fixed devotion to her land, her elders, 
Her worship at the fane, prohibits she 
To entertain thy plea with humbleness; 
Nor murmur shouldst thou vain from me estranged. 

Achil. What lot to supplicate without amends! 
How doubt belief did! Charlatan was this 
Belief in feigning thou didst feign; but truth 
Comes through thy features, virtue's seal thereon. 

Iph. Kegard profound with suasion would prevail. 

Achil. So speaking seems as if a statue speaks; 
It makes the present poor, unfortunate. 

Iph. The future richer by privation now. 

Achil. Still stay! For beauty liveth sternness j^et, 
Meet due from man. Death tempting thee away, 
From this to turn to cold eternity! 

Iph. Aye, aye, there majesty immutable, 
Forever cold to those who feel it not. 

Achil. To flutter o'er oneself with spirit brave 
Is that unreal in mortals which oft falters when 
Comes experience dread. A preceptor 



30 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Let pausing moments be. Too soon regretting, 
Kash acts anticipate retrieving steps. 

Iph. Why thus accost my fear? Why not my faith? 
Hallow the gods the tidings fraught for us. 

Acliil. We cannot praise the gods for all they do; 
Then what they hid why sanction always we? 

Iph. In candor mine find not a mind amiss, 
Void of what claims esteem for intellect. 
I would live! Life engenders life, joy joy, 
Hope hope. Would I achieving these in lot 
To gratify, relinquish it to fade 
Ere ripe — to meet in summer autumn's blight — 
Without inducing effort stirred within, 
Supple and strong as is the palm, to take 
A course of rigor that e'en frailty charms? 
The gods do surely blunder not in this. 

Acliil. Oh, so to express! — so unlike the one — 
The Iphigenia fair, of earth, for earth. 
Adorning and adorned! — so like the one 
On a tribunal citing principles! 
Retire, at least, in memory; be absent from 
These places, in thy native haunts; recall 
Thy father, simple there, sweet manners bidding, 
Aspiring and unruly not. O'erlooked 
That father is; this father, mounting where 
He would, sees less and less his wife and children, 
Until they are mere ciphers to himself. 

Iph. Why should I be a victim to design 
When me admonishes clear consciousness 
To be steadfast in that I do? Wliat false, 



THE SACBIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 31 

My father! No, no! He for me grieves more 
Than I that am to suffer. Faith him knows 
As it knows self — as woman knows the depth 
Of man, self-knowledge his in instinct naught. 

Achil. 'T is hard to deafen what affection urges 
Eesigning thee for aye in one dull thought. 
Can this accomplished be in so short time? 
Profoundest functions of the mind rebel. 
Give hours for such, they cycles would appear. 

Iph. Oh, court not languor fatal to the sense 
That boasts the hardihood of Grecian brawn! 

Achil. Still recollection must, corroding this 
Same sense, prevail, with age untimely blending — 
Sad jDlight! — a weight upon the manhood's prime, 
Making imperfect what encouraged bears 
E'en brawn unto the dangerous verge of deeds. 

Iph. The end behold! This passion for the present 
A poison is, a toil, an ignorance. 
Let flowery thoughts be o'er it victory, 
Communing with the future as in prayer. 

Achil. Yet feel it rue that one so good should leave! 

Ixoh. The grim, gaunt ferryman, of whom we note, 
Conveys not, wrapped in terror of his mien, 
All numbers vain across the turbid flood. 
Beyond, in the abode of all the just. 
Associations are enriching to the soul 
In tranquil proportions. Of them reflect 
To animate belief that now would die; 
And that alive in strength would cast the form 
Of Iphigenia — thy Iphigenia! — 



32 DBA3IATIG POEMS. 

Into the clasping of fatality, 

Deeming it weal. . . . Ah, me! what music were 

Thy accents, Achilles — my Achilles! — 

Unto my maiden diffidence, that wooed 

In harmony obedience to thy nods! — thy smiles, 

How vital to expectation in days 

Gone by! — my strength with thine so marvelous; 

How it made grow, its breath of power through me 

As April's through a tree's fresh foliage! 

But now I stand at variance with all this, 

As breeze that favored late the blossom's birth, 

^ow changed its bearings, chills it to the core; 

Nor blame aught me. Is mercy gone from love 

Of thine that nurtured me? Mayhaps "t is masked 

Behind the ardor of a warrior's brow 

To show again. If so, to plead were idle; 

For mercy apprehending will adapt 

Itself unto the burden of my pUght, 

And try to lessen it. ... O AchiUes! 

Bequest no more. Remember prophecy, 

Thee auspicious. Thy shade of vagueness turn 

To sunshine, wishing what of moral worth 

It holds, foreseeing and receiving grace. 

The footprints of our day outlast us shall. 

Let 's part, each mo"VTDg in a course aright: 

Thou to the fray, I to the tomb, life's foe 

In both — my sacrifice first coming moulds 

The cause of things; thy sacrifice efiect, 

Crowning with aweless sword the fall of Troy. 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 33 

SCENE VI. 
Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Iphigenia. 

CJyt. These galleys that lie idle on the beach; 
These sailors that seek foreign shores for sport, 
Let the wind-ruler, Mollis, refrain 
To aid! Why complicate a spirit base 
With what moves majesty, and call both good, 
Finding in chance all self-authority? 

Iph. Mother, put no such question now, so near 
The time to spread light from a dark event. 

Clyt. I saw them to the altar go just now 
With odored offerings. IVhen thou wast born 
^o altar was adorned; then innocent; 
But guilty now, condemned, misused, diso^nied, 
They must, as if atoning for neglect. 
To mitigate the scene, thus honor thee. 

Iph. Ah, mother, please refer no more as this! 
Let that thee hold, each function loyal e'er. 
To the sad covenant my father holds. 

Clyt. The skill of Orpheus would him move not. 
What cares he for that baleful Helen flown? 
What cares she to come back, with Paris fain. 
Having, o'er Tyrian garments rare, a chain 
Of woven gold around his princely neck? 
^YhJ meditate a good to gild an ill? 
For she, returning, will pollution bring. 
Her beauty bearing 'fore the Trojan dames, 
3- c 



34 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

She lives for it, proud, blind to Menelaus. 

With rustic vigor born, love's opposite, 

He talks of cheeses, goats and herds of beeves! 

Iph. Aught overwhelms with silentness; it comes 
Upon the air, subduing passion full 
To fade, forecasting it to blend with some 
Remote contingency, until we have 
A mood that stands above a mortal plane 
Prepared to die. O mother! do not try 
To alter what in me determines so. 
Lest thou, incurring ire of what, unnamed, 
Unknown, behind me moves, shouldst be in range 
Of shaft destructful from on high. So stir 
Thy words, that would mislead, for thee and thine 
I tremble as a bark sea-struck. Oh, cease! 

Clyt. I cannot — thou, a daughter, bidding such! 
Thy zeal hath it still not a tie to her 
Who gave thee being? — thou, persistent in 
A willfulness, resolved so to go 
Among thy kind, as foreign to my bosom 
As to thy neighbor! ... I distracted am! 
I would to Jupiter appeal; believing not, 
"VYhat must I do? . . . Flow, eyes! regardless weep 
Of that desire which would have hardness shield — 
The vent maternal of my bitterness! 

Enter Agamemnon. 

Aga. My wife, repress thyself. O'erhearing thee. 
Thy language hearing shocked. Speak not In strain 



THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 35 

Impious of the father of the gods, 

Lest harm betide. Calclias hereafter sees, 

Reporting wliat is best, concealing mucli, 

This best to be repeated in the much 

A thousandfold enchained in fixed results. 

This I believe. Then, helpmeet, fail not me. 

Clyt. If to this outrage now assenting I, 
Can I with love uphold as husband you 
In years of future, musing of this day? 

Aga. Ah, yes; forgetful of thyself, thy mind 
In peace shall know 't is sacrilege to stand 
As thou dost now, and love thy husband more. 

Clyt. Our son Orestes, what shall he be taught 
In this? 

Aga. The truth; nor grudge the teacher freedom; 
Say what he will, it matters not if true. 

Clyt. Oself! surrender to thy lord. What must 
Be will support its right, and consequence 
Acquit the doer. Now, ye thoughts, prepare 
To an influence exterior to bend; 
For know that no interior might could make 
Ye alter so. It seems a touch without 
Approaches consciousness, adjusting it 
To form anew; perceiving much (in gloom 
Before) in light disclosing now, it moves 
Concordant with that which you would exact. 

[Aside. 
Words! words! for him, but not the aim of them. 

Aga. Rejoiced I hear, O wife of Sparta, this! 
Seeing to that we plan in vain, 't is well 



36 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

Death is an ever open portal through 

Which to celestial haunts men triumphs bear, 

From what they are hereon much raised therein. . . . 

So perfectly, with heart so manifest, 

Not knowing she of that our league admires, 

Hath Iphigenia prompt addressed herself 

Unto the full adoption of my choice 

(Demurring though at first, susceptible 

To fitful fears), she stands in calm relief, 

A thing to flatter pride in us paternal. 

With Spartan worth, stern quality inborn. 

She shine th through the smoke of sacrifice! . . . 

Iphigenia, beloved now as e'er. 

Approaches step by step the Hour to take 

Thee to the sombre dwelling of the dead; 

Art thou, as formerly, as satisfied 

To go, subjected to the augury? 

Tph. I am. Let me proceed to pay the debt 
My father owes. Myself no longer am 
A subject of a birth, its sequels close 
Extending to bereave. . . . Vitality, 
Delusion's nurse! now m-itigate each grief 
Attending moments soon to ruin thee. . . . 
I have felt that I would not you unveil. 
Hence, my frail ghost, the image of a being 
Confined, would move forth, as mild Hermes bent 
On journey high, impatient to foretaste 
The weal ethereal; would j^earn, beyond 
Exempt from all the flesh's ministry, 
In distant periods to expatiate. 



THE SACBIFICE OF IPHIGENIA. 37 

Then 3'oiith in me must with sad cypress not 

For crown, but leaves of joyful laurel, bid 

A self -fare well. Death is the heart of life. 

Then to the scene, as if a heifer from 

The herd, with gilded horns and dew-kissed flowers, 

Conduct my feet. Would consecrate this flesh 

Diana pure; would purge of vagaries 

Coming from thought's perpetual mist on mist; 

Of dumb reluctance erring in its course; 

Of memories inviolate, j^et false in view; 

Of virgin lamentations burning yet; 

Of mortal sins immortal oft across 

In Tartarus! . . . Move to the foreordained! 

Come, come! start for the altar — father, guide! 

To tarry here afilicts the gods with pain. 

Thou shouldst be brave. The pallor on thy brow, 

Oh, banish it! The color of a chief 

Appears more well. . . . My mother dear, thy tears 

Are the sur\lvals of that fear 't is hoped 

Is dead; let not thy breast them nurture more; 

But weep, if weep thou must, for this day past, 

Not nxorrow near. Unto the sacrifice I go; 

The army stands encircling to b&hold; 

Calchas awaits, Diana pressing him. 

Adieu ! adieu ! O mother dear ! . . . Lead on ! 



38 DBAMATIC POEMS, 



PRIAM, KING OF TROY. 

tii:e p:EESOifs. 

Priam, king of Troy. 
^NEAS, a Trojan leader. 

Hector, son to Priam. 
Officer and others. 

SCENE I.— Troy; the Grecian hosts before it. 

Priam alone. 

Pri. The Greeks lie hapless in the tents on plains 
Late ringing, that give play to zephyrs now 
From bosom of the South. The cry. To arms ! 
To arms! is sleeping in their mouths. Would it 
Ne'er v/aken more, uprising rash against 
Our walled town — the ornament renowned 
Of Phrygia. To overtures of peace 
Give ear, O Time! — Oh, favor them as thou 
Dost favor genial Mays succeeding months 
Of winters fierce! — lest war thy work shall do. 
And crumbling turn our towers to the ground: 
Be this thy task. Defended by thy laws. 
The foe, by Troy's six gates, immures; but show, 
O Time! advantage by the flocks, in fields. 
At haunts of home, and let him seek it there. 
Withdrawn from here where ills offset his gains. 
What miss we Trojans, too, opposing might, 



FBI AM, KING OF TROY. 39 

By the hap-hazard art of Mars sustained, 
Eepulse our lot, made smarting more to deem 
Hell's sj'mpathy gives boast to victory? 
This awe of circumstance without us leaves 
Ineffective, dazed, groping as in dark. 
Our nature to arouse to light within, that stirs 
Sensations just and reason domineers. 
Lamenting we behold the dead, to rise 
As heroes nevermore: that fire extinct 
Which an illumination spread, and showed 
Each triumph is its own encomiast; 
Now breaks our transport dreaming of it gone. 
Why turn to count the waste of numbers soon 
As they to fall? This count forecast affords 
Composure not far darkling on the view 
Departing hence. Let day of peace forestall; 
Let satisfaction find in this a meed; 
Let groves of olive shelter what they grant; 
Let shafts of winged doom to winged doves 
Give place. O Time! aflbrd (returning sweet!) 
The means conducive to this end, to hold 
Despair from its apportionment! . . . Oh, would 
This Helen were with Menelaus, and Pride, 
The false, the leader to this siege, were where 
Humanity a master is! As pupils then 
Men would be sages soon, and warriors hold 
In execration. . . . ^neas approaches! 
He comes on the desire immediate 
That would confide in one as safe as he. 
Miter -^NEAS. 



40 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Hail ! hail ! brave bearer of the shield. The news 
From the besiegers' ground relate if well. 

uEne. Not well for them; for us, perhaps, 't is so. 
Their sentinels are scorched upon the rounds. 
Yiews them with scorn the solitary Sun, 
As if he would our cause abet, and lay 
Each armed Greek cold at the feet of Death. 

Fri. Let 's follow this advantage to the test 
Of more to com.e. Be you favorable 
To what is purposed with your aid. The time 's 
Mature for other action than to face 
With stubborn brow the foe besetting Troy; 
To linger out our days, privations near. 
With self-inflictions adding to chagrin, 
Waiving that touchstone — happiness. This plight 
Unroyal dictates duty to a king; 
For grief is wisdom's antecedent school. 
Go to the Greeks encamped, as messenger 
To speak; Ulysses find; Diomedes; 
Or Nestor (nearest Agamemnon's ear. 
The chief of chiefs), his eloquence to warm 
Propitious to ourselves; — to them say all 
(If fortune so allow) that Priam, not 
For partiality, but equity. 
With honor quests the terms of equal peace. 

^ne. I would, O king! yet would I not. Consent 
Would go, but tarries confidence. I am 
A soldier void of tact to harmonize. 
With language apt persuasive to a point, 
Discordant men. To plead is better than 



FBI AM, KING OF TROY. 41 

My tougiie my sword. Why not leave Anterior 
Be substitute in this affair? He is 
Without a peer when an occasion calls 
For promptitude to advocate a cause, 
Failing not to attain whereby to thrive 
Betime when others fail endeav'ring more. 

Fri. Antenor 's prized; but less by me when choice 
Requires the self-dictates to meet the form 
Of unexpected things. Your traits, though few, 
Are sturdy, fitting for the hour, the place 
To bear upon them what would weigh his down; 
Your speech suflQcient, and your prudence just. 
Tims talented, refuse not me the task 
I would have you now undertake for Troy, 

^ne. Refuse I not, O king! — outright, at least. 
But recollect the Greeks have craft, and I 
Have none; that they have art, and I have none; 
That they have wit, and I have none. A host 
Himself Ulysses is, unmatched, renowned: 
Yet who, to gain his point (so is it said). 
Within the circle of ambition fair 
Moves not; but lurks without, adept, for prey 
Lynx-eyed. There ISTestor is, whose eloquence 
Is music's instrument, inspiring foes 
To turn to friends, to cast their cause behind. 
To follow where he leads, adversely moved 
Against their own. There's Achilles proof-hard; 
Contrary, though reserved; insidious, too. 
With motives various — now for love, and now 
For strife; — with lusty voice he reasons not, 



42 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

But roars his passion out. Confront I must 

A willfulness most thrifty in excuse, 

For service in its own behalf, 

Of these; yea, yea, by others, to themselves 

Law-givers, judging harshly, guile of theirs 

At work to flourish ever, must stand I 

Surrounded, balked, by them sent back to you 

A Trojan scorned. To meet and turn against 

Themselves with that they 'd cumber me — to fetch 

The olive branch away — the firm address, 

The winning use of words from feeling free 

(So e'er promotive of an issue good!) 

Of Antenor will better serve. On him, 

In view of this and much unsaid, still known, 

I pray, the duty be conferred at once. 

Pri. No, no! It is imperative for you to go. 
With favors antidoting enmity. 
Hence let consent move hand-in-hand with what 
Is bid; with what requires that self should be 
Behind, design before, absorbed in earnestness 
Well to acquit itself. Thus 'mong the Greeks, 
What presence for a safeguard, bearing down 
Each spell opposing! 'T is the spirit true, 
Diplomatic, moves to success ill-placed; 
For men subdued by means sincere, and led 
To grant, approving what they do as that 
Proceeding from themselves, are wont to grant 
With double bounty. Furthermore, the gods, 
Observing you, with mission just, will prompt 
A speech and method suited to prevail. 



FBI AM, KING OF TROY, 43 

Hence halt not; let the soldier's courage be, 
To act, unto the envoy's caution joined. 

^ne. I cease to argue. I as soldier yield 
To commandment. The Grecian leaders found 
Shall hear that Priam, king of Troy, asks truce. 
Whereby to sound the chords of peace — the harp 
In hand, the trumpet laid aside. Returned, 
Eelate will JEneas outcome with them. 
Proceeding thus, accomplished be your orders? 

Fri. Aye, aye! Depart. Let seemly haste impel. 
Hereafter come again with news joy-bearing. 

Exit ^NEAS. 



SCFNF II. — In the Grecian camp. 

Ulysses, Nestor and JEneas. 

ZJlyss. ISTestor, awake! let not the sluggard's tent 
Your wisdom shade; within, its tempting fold 
Deprives to view of pictured excellence, 
Which on the citadel of Ilium 
Hangs now in mists. Aurora's aerial tints 
Are cast with rosy fingers wet in dawn. 
Your taper's restless flame should smoke you out. 
Come, come, man! breathing exercise yourself! 

Enter Nestok. 

Nest. O comrade, hail ! Now what is felt is not 
Of me, but me conveyed as largess from 



44 BBAMATIC POEMS. 

The fount of Life, reviving morn by morn. 
Now worship coincides with what is best 
Derived from sleep, approach so near to that 
Wliich is a smnmons to existence's close. 

TJlyss. "We hear too oft this strain of casual talk; 
Of pious theories; of portents many, 
Keen to anticipate, false in results. 
Deluding self, you others would delude. 
"Why a soothsayer be to deal in kind, 
Discoursing of Mount Ida's store of gods; 
Of Scamander, and her reputed nymphs; 
Of mystagogues, traversing from afar 
To bother us (save entertaining you!) 
And not a soldier with his antic airs, 
Prating, with themes off-hand, of what our league 
Should magnify, respite from war unsought? 
"What recks — . . . But who is yon advancing here? 
Ho, ho, a nondescript! to seek your tent, 
I swear, with an outlandish gibberish 
Attention to excite: what means to use 
For Troy's downfall; what indicate to him 
A bird's entrails; his so-forths and so-forths 
Gathering volume in sonorous flow! . . . 
Seriously, half afraid he straggles here; 
If worth he have, 't is -of the modest sort 
That women like. A shepherd he, perhaps. 
Leaving his flock, with what across his shoulders 
A wolfish hide appears. Still is his look 
Mysterious, and augurs much that fear 
Confounds with truth, the heart uncertain what 



FBI AM, KING OF TROY. 45 

To feel, the mind Avhat to believe. . . . But, no! — 

Doth vision fail, forsaking me? It is, 

On closer view, no renegade from Troy, 

But a commander late confronting us. 

AVliat wants he here among antagonists? 

'T is ^neas, upon my word, disguised! 

Nest. Beware of him! He seeks what we should 
hold; 
Yet let us listen him with due reserve, 
IS'ot cold, lest freezing him it may deter 
The candor that confides in deference. 

TJlyss. Advise you well, O comrade! Him accost 
Let me. Behind step where the tent obscures; 
There hearing wait the consequence of what 
His answers make to questions put. Meanwhile, 
As if upon cross-purpose bent, I '11 stir 
Him so that if deceit he bear, it will 
Be shown in contradiction. Hasten in! 
He comes a seeming prowler to this place. 

Exit Kestor. Enter ^neas. 

JEne. Is this Ulysses, king of Ithaca? 

TJlyss. It is. What man are you? 

^ne. ^neas I. 

I issued from the gate of Troy ere dawn. 

TJlyss. "Why hither come so venturesome to stand? 
I tremble for your fate if known by here 
To Grecian hosts a Trojan leader is — 
A hue and cry, and murder with a sling ! 

.Mne. The gods beheld with fear, I fear not death. 



46 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

XJlyss. ^Yhat credence can I give to this in guise 
Of shepherd you, to come so awkwardly 
Misgiving us? Is it for espionage 
That you are here? You will for answer give 
A no; hut how am I to trust this no 
When you convicted are hefore insight 
Of stepping on our grounds unworthily? 

j3Ene. I do not wear this habit to mislead; 
It is to signify the shepherd's lot — 
The virtue mothered by the hills, wild flowers 
Among, with bleating lambs by ewes — the crook, 
And not the sword. From Priam I, who sends 
His greeting. His decision on the throne 
Is this, to proffer you the olive branch. 
He would have me hold speech with all your chiefs; 
Would know if strife by their insistence must 
Pursue a bloody course. . . . Oh, hear my cause 
With trust! — if void of faith, you me undo. 

TJlyss. Our chiefs are scattered here and there; 
Some in pavilions loll, whilst others roam. 
They bear such characters as fail in ease 
Wlien terms exacting ask obedience. 
Troy rouses rage: why crave we yield to her? 
Is Menelaus to find revenge in peace? 
What water tame this peace wlio thirsts for blood! 

^ne. O Greek! your valor question none of Troy; 
Of this same trait your wisdom is a match: 
Oh, let them both my mission turn to aid! 
In setting artifice of pride apart. 
Let me, a suppliant, be in degree 



FBI AM, KING OF TBOY. 47 

Much less, my cause much more; thus entertained, 
For sake of Greece, for sake of Troy reply! 

TJlyss. A servant of the hour is not my power; 
•It is the subject of experience long. 
Patience, as beast of burden, wrong o'er wrong 
Of Troy sustained. As beacon lights, that glow 
From mount to mount, the news ran wildly far: 
Paris the climax caps! The thought was dire: 
Barbarous Trojans coming to our homes. 
And then outraging them — proud Greece, renowned 
For civil polity, from Phrygia, 
Half knowing laws, corrupt, to tolerate 
Her deed! Now do you wonder anger rose. 
Inspiring shame, then power with triple strength, 
Aggressive to maintain what us is due. 
To move, my host and I, from Ithaca, - 
Here to avenge sad Menelaus? Deem you 
Our bosom's zeal, with heat burned out, must show 
A bed of ashes? No, burn on it must. 
At last involving ruin flames to spread. 
Think you, the brave commander of our troops 
Must turn to Priam changed in mood because 
Troy would not have spears hostile in her clime? 
Think you, must we return to Greece, our wives 
To guard, forgetting Helen left behind. 
Each Trojan visitor alert to dupe? 

^dEVie. Helen, alas! of woes so manifold 
The cause, is not integral to the part 
Concession would hold back. . . . But to detail 
Of armistice I am permitted not 



48 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

To move; the king direct alone there goes. 

Ulyss, What is averred believing all is vain. 

u^ne. Then bear my speech, the best and worst— 
The grain and chaff— to Agamemnon (me 
Denied), the chieftain of ye leaders all. 
Who may befriend its vs^orth, its dross ignore. 

Ulyss. Humph! Agamemnon is too near akin 
To Menelaus to give reception fair 
To what you offer here. His brother would 
Its virtue vitiate, confusing it 
With shrewd make-shifts suggested by the wound 
He bears, inflicted by his consort held. 

u^ne. To deem this Helen soon to be restored 
Should cause him joy; thus mollified, he would 
By nature's feelings urged, to overture 
From Troy concede a share of patronage. 
What policy for him, and fame likewise, 
Before invading hosts, so fortified 
In fortitude, its limit to announce, 
Kewarding conflicts past with peace! peace! peace! 

Ulyss. It will take time to temper heat in men, 
Impassioned, counting not the sands of life. 
To gain the final victory, with song 
Hymenean (as if it marriage were, 
Venus favoring it), to greet the glad event ! 

j^ne. Alas, too true! emotions lead, and false! 
l!^evertheless, O Greek! yourself persuade 
To yield to sentiment, arising o'er 
Past wrongs, that bids cessation of armed feud. 
O Greek! if so, you fellow-chiefs instill, 



FBI AM. KING OF TEOT. 49 



Tending to wake them to impressions bent 

As yours, and soothing to perplexity. . . . 

Awaiting your disposal of this case, 

I go. Troy stands immured, authority 

Tenacious of; withal, the olive branch 

One hands upholds, the other grasps the sword. 

Oh, let the sword fall low, the branch prevail ! 

Exit ^KEAS. 
Ulyss. He goes, a lion bayed! "Within himself 
He bears the spirit not of peace; he feels 
Too much. A torment such as his must vent 
Itself to ease the mind in some gross act. 

Enter INestor. 

JSfest. He stood so pillar-like against your words. 
Showing the hero through and through! Alas, 
Such one should be conjoined against our ranks! 

Ulyss. You favor him. He 's plausible. Does he 
iN'ot wear the wolfish hide, attracting thus 
Suspicion on himself? I feel his steps 
To follow would be caution to denote 
His presence is dishonored by distrust. 
His mien was as a cur's, to reconcile 
Him to a master who offended stands; 
But as he warmed in speech, he shone above 
His minor self, superior as a man 
In that false way dissimulation holds. 
That would enlighten if it could, for it 
Should, urged and tasked by high authority. 

4-D 



50 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

JS'est. One-sided you. You weigh with scales 
That ever favor self. 'T is well to try 
His case as one complex. To claim to know 
Him all is to transcend that which is well. 
The gods of knowledge false in us make sport, 
And us confound to punish for conceit. 

TJlyss. That 's so; yet error holds some truth as salt 
That seasons oft the mental pabulum: 
Wliat taste likes well belief finds proof for it. 
Eneas' evidence against himself 
Is such as reason obvious moves to deem. 
Good-will to him forbids not e'en this right; 
Misgiving just passed by, ignored, unheard. 
Is duty held in thrall. We soldiers here 
Must guard our safety in defense, that asks 
That done which, counter to the spirit's choice, 
Must grossly labor to avert the aims 
Of those who, through deceiving, would attain 
Some point of victory. jEneas thus 
I fear. He is a warrior blunt and bold; 
But as a man a fox in circumstance 
And stratagem. He goes to Priam now 
To breathe those feelings by the throne which make 
Kings move purblind 'gainst fate, their satellites 
To blame, in mischief working for themselves. 

iVesf. Yet if he came in all sincerity 
To help restore the peace, what follows now 
Your bluff reception must be wrong from you. 
Within himself now much displeasure reigns. 
Perhaps. 'T is well to ask, who placed it there? 



FBI AM, KING OF TBOY. 51 

The mere imprudence of your course may turn 
Advantage from our side in battle pitched, 
The gods befriending his, tlie Trojan's side. 
In just accord he with supernal laws; 
Excite Tate's enmity at fault ourselves. 

Ulyss. How variable! You cried at first: Beware 
Of him! He seeks what we sliould hold. ^\Tiy now 
Condemn the language used, as you in part 
Impelled its strain? ... In danger here we are, 
For Nestor stands engend'ring such a plight! 
Affected must we be by that he urges! . . . 
Does Priam send him here from Hector's side 
(Who is so open, imposition scorning), 
Or from the couch of Paris, timorous. 
Yet heartless, cunning, Helen's paramour? 
Of these two sons the father Priam is: 
'T is safe to judge by offspring of the king. 
Whose evils mingled are with virtues clear. 
If fraught with honor he, why herald it 
Through such as ^neas, arriving here 
With dubious movement, honor's counterpace? 

West. Paris o'erlook awhile; Hector mark: 
A statue not empowered less than he 
Imposes and retains the feelings to iteelf, 
Eouf^ing heroic thoughts. The sire, indeed. 
Must be a certain portion of the son, 
Who honor shows, old Priam's gift, who moved 
Himself thereby ^Eneas sent to us. 

Ulyss. But did this Priam say to iEneas 
(His honor bootless 'gainst the heat of rancor), 



52 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Take you this hide of wolf, and, wearing it, 

Go seek our enemy and sue for peace, 

With inner motive hid and treacherous? 

Thus Paris shows in him, not Hector frank. 

But if this ^ncas acted thus alone, 

Moved to impress us with a kind effect. 

Seeking to v,in with worthy means, these means 

Have proved with flaw, and we have right to choose 

A har.sh occasion to rebuke his plea. 

And answer, too, thereby, the king of Troy. 

Nest. The times give joyless nursing to the senses; 
He came on us in our predicament. 
Our armies are seditions hatching late; 
They bear the hardships of a siege prolonged — 
The bafllings, throes from nameless maladies — 
And murmur for their home. Hence you, fatigued 
With crowding under foot conspiracies. 
Maintain not that reflective poise by which 
To judge serenely of an opponent, 
That would by his own choice change to a friend. 

Ulyss. That is, apparently. 'T is Nestor trusts. 
I see more keenly with a spirit roused; 
Salvation comes through human eagerness. 
I may amiss behold true ^neas; 
But in beholding wisdom much enjoins. 
Besides, it seems that Priam pressed to yield 
By some exhaustion must surrender soon; 
And that for us to show a tendency 
To shrink would waive a right for us to say 
To what conditions should comjily his course. 



PBIAM^ KING OF TROY. 53 



This idea tempered passion as I spoke 

To ^neas, as othenvise to him 

I might have been more rude. 'T is left to you, 

My method reading in this light, to judge — 

Opposed the stand to ^neas; attained, 

The bearing of the end; the theories 

To be observed by Greece, Troy's foe; the scheme 

Of conquest to secure redemption's store; — 

Of these judge you, and me acquit of blame. 



SCSNE III.— In Troy. Priam's palace. 

Priam, Hector, ^neas, Officer and Herald. 

Hect. You ask me to submit to these demands; 
To favor peace from yonder Greeks, resolved. 
Ingenious in resentment stemmed, to bear 
Themselves above ourselves; to yield anon 
To Menelaus this Helen, repelling all 
Our brother's right to her. Let Paris speak 
In this. For me, desire to satisfy 
Ambition with the deeds of courage born 
Is first. For her, the queen, no sentiment 
Should come between the course of holding her. 
Or of releasing her, to hinder us 
From driving one by one the foe, overwhelmed. 
Their only safeguard Greece, their mother land. 
Beleaguer us (their vaunt!) not long in vain; 
A certain justice strained their cause supports; 
Influenced thus, their spirit is unapt 



54 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

To cede meet dues to us in intercourse, 

So double in endeavor to o'erreach e'en friends, 

We Trojans less would trebly be them prey. 

PH. Our profit not is in revenge; it is 
Kot sanctified by Heaven; imbitters what 
It eats, and thirsts as Tantalus. Besides, 
Our plains should bear for harvest gilded sheaves, 
Not bristling spears and battle-axes sharp; 
Those to sustain our life, these to destroy. 

Hect. I am most dutiful as son to you; 
From youth to man was taught I reverence 
For rules particular, wherein my steps 
Have followed as a path, gave ease to use 
And love to habit, that to break in part 
Therefrom is self-regard impaired, somewhat 
Of penalty; but duty can exist 
In opposition's ]3lea, and laurels gain 
In license. Therefore me a pardon grant 
In saying Hector does concealment spurn, 
In justice to his sire, in leading him 
Believe he stands with silence to agree 
In this so moving him. To conquer now 
Is progress; to succumb, it to impeach; 
A zigzag lapse to take, amiss at last 
To be as bondsmen, shamed and portionless. 

Fri. 'T is pride inborn conceives a specious vista; 
Your mother's hauteur ever bides with you. 
The future certain, graphic, zeal reproaches; 
'T will show surmises past deceptive webs 
Whereon were winged fancies caught. To threat 



FBI AM, KING OF TBOT. 55 

The present stands with danger, fashioning 
Disasters odious, chief victims ours. 
Hence caution should control experience, 
That bids the patriot relinquish much; 
That leads him seek sedate iDliilosophy, 
Vexation's halm, adapting ends to ends. 

Hect. But "vvhy should courage not exert itself 
To bring about such things as sages cheer, 
E'en to a point decisive to attain 
Whereby to yield is plain necessity? 
Then to submit is satisfaction's part 
To soften what our foemen would impose. 
In deeming that exhausted are the means 
Which strove, fulfilling not success, but that 
Which gives to failure honor's ornament. 

PH. Now sore of mind, such things discomfort it. 
A course has been determined on to serve — 
That would make short the interval between 
The seed and fruit, ^neas sent hath been 
Into the Grecian camp, there to confer 
With the commanders; to suggest that Troy 
Will at the rites of peace administer. 
Keturning he may issues bring that must 
Be met not with reluctance, shifting from 
The scene; not with bravado, wrong and scornful — 
Impulses of a warrior. . . . Oh, let 
The gods decree that instantly descend 
Inspiring all serenely to the means 
Subservient to our kingdom's interest! 
Miter uEneas. 



56 JDBAMATIC F0EM8. 

Welcome once more, the leader of my hosts! 

The mud j-oiir ankles bear is proof enough 

A servant comes, e'er dutiful, our cup 

To sweeten. . . . "What to you the Grecians said? 

Are they inclined to wage still 'gainst our walls. 

So stubborn, fury stubborn of their own. 

Or to dej^art from Phrygia for home. 

There to partake repose, denied them here? 

^ne. I to Ulysses spoke of your desire. 
To a fixed station of unbending thought 
He moved, then language used implying that 
As suitor I was vain, I felt so curbed, 
Spoke cowardice as in a beggar's limbs. 
As he, more proud than e'er, half looked at me. 

Pri. Alas, and you so honest in your motive! 

^ne. Finally, thinking of your wish for peace, 
I intimated what to it might add 
In value much that woke within my mind. 
That deeming probable you would concede 
To them, the Greeks, in order to induce 
Him well to hear my case. My manners changed, 
Impelled by the occasions of ordeal. 
Beyond what loatience taught an hour before. 
And moved my mission to accuse itself 
111 done. Ulysses then, erroneous. 
An opposition took such as to quote 
Its verbal course would not be profiting 
Unto ourselves. Enough is said, I left 
Him fixed against the realm's security 
Xn that degree as to assail, he j^earns, 



PBIAM, KING OF TROT. 57 

It to a downfall. But with time's own change, 
His views must change; and cooled, they may avail 
Themselves of what is better, and advance 
To where I would have led them to myself. 
May Heaven, that guides our days, so favor us\ 

Pri. Meanwliile, O Troy! hast much to undergo 
From the events that in appearance spring 
From earth's fatality, as cursing us 
For rising human from her soil! Thus more 
And more affairs combine themselves, to plans 
Adverse that would calm hours restore. Thus this 
And that in opposition stand in man, 
E'en from the womb unto the tomb! . . . Hector, 
Among our people move; their attitude 
Discern toward their government; they much 
l!^ow suffer, suffring more the cause unspoken. 
Close at the heart to canker. But, alas, 
'T is sad to counsel ears as thine! Thou art 
In contravention to my wish (Troy's weal). 
And farther would it separate from right 
To wrong. ... I humbly turn, O ^neas! 
To thee, the, succor of gray hairs, to feel 
Its essence as the flame that vrarms the limbs 
In winter chilled and stiff; withal, to feel 
A confidence that, chiding, shows my sons 
Eeflect the folly of their stock in that 
Uncurbed, and learn the lesson of reproach. 

^ne. You should not think so sorely of j^our sons, 
AVith character abroad rare, prominent, 
WTiere every humble roof their triumphs flatters. 



58 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

PH. You flatter, too, in thus excusing them. 
But call it melancholy, fond of late 
To move me so to feel; beholding, too, 
Severe. Withal, 'tis hard this enmity 
Of men to face, assembled, host by host. 
From o'er the briny waters, to avenge 
For injury that had origin here, 
Our future's name enscrolled in black reproof! 
Yet must we, though oflenders past, and now, 
Despite ourselves, offending still, be bold 
Protecting well the fair in us, the gross 
Associate a shelter, too, to give. 'T is thus. 
Contending with afiairs, that men, inclined 
To rectitude, do carry inner stain 
They blush to name; 't is thus that kingdoms, too. 
Have workings in tliemselves enfeebling much, 
That cause, against their nobler quality 
(That would control), suspicious realms to rise. 
To war inspired, them anxious to destroy. 

^ne. You utter truth, O best of Asia's kings! 
But recollect the Greeks are at our gates; 
You would have them, ignoring much bygone. 
Each breach of faith, as pilgrims enter all; 
'T is not their choice, alas! What must we do? 
The Parcse, pitiless, direct us not: 
From night we must emerge if can to day. 
An index be, O king! If to lay down 
Our arms — point so; 'tis done: or if to bear 
Them forth in struggle dire — point so; 't is done. 
The men of Troy bow to their sovereign. 



PBIAM, KING OF TBOY. 59 

PH. Thus glory comes from such obedience; 
To this indebted, I these men owe much; 
In them re warding, Troy should triumph hold. 
This idea happy makes to spurn the Greek, 
To note the horror he essays to spread, 
To deem him worthy of the javelin's doom. 

Ilect. He comes to humble us, ransack our homes, 
Towers o'erthrow, fanes desecrate, retreats 
Most holy level, Ilium sacrifice, 
Burnished war-cars and all the horses seize. 
Lead stalwart men in irons — aye, Oh, you, 
The king of men, the sire of fifty sons! 
"Would harness to a chariot in a realm 
To you most strange, its chief to draw before 
A populace to greet the victory. 
Consider these; not far in time, perhaps. 
To be the sharp experience of us all. 

Fri. Although excessive this, yet truth it has. 
And forcible the likelihood! Still, son. 
Could we but mitigate the Grecian rage. 
Turn men humane, themselves resigned to reason. 
An office then endeavor would encrown 
More golden to esteem than this we w^ear. 
Since not our wish for peace is first (that would 
To good deeds a light-bearer be), but war 
To lead, w^e must as partial cowards hear 
The trumpeters, and follow to the fray. 
And bravery prove — yet tremble will each knee. 

Enter an Officer. 



60 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Offi. A herald comes beseeching interview 
With you, O king! A message bears his bosom 
From the beleaguers, for imperial ears 
Alone. He waits without command to hear. 

PH. His errand to fulfill bid him draw nigh. 

Enter a Hekald. 

Unburden, man, of what you have for us. 
Have no concern for those about, for they 
Are such as prize as duty secrecy. 

Her. You to address, O ruler famous! I 
Am here from Agamemnon, king of kings. 
I bear a challenge from Achilles stern; 
Yet not so stern but that affection's spark 
His mind inflames, his dear Patroclus mourning; 
Who would your Hector, slayer of his foe 
(Dead friend to Greece!) encounter soon with arms 
In combat single on the plain by Troy. 

Ilect. I am so ready I would now be there, 
Him to confoimd, his figure to lay lov/, 
To typify the fall of all his cause. 

Pri. Are you, within your camp, so idle grown 
You need the pageant of a fray between 
The j)i'iiice, my son, and him, Peleus' son? 
Their blood once spilt, can it atonement serve? 
Your rams, why batter more against our walls? 
Yourselves, exhaustion's prey, why not sustain? 
Your ships, why not with honor quest their shores, 
The rowers busy churning ocean to a foam, 



PBIAM, KING OF TBOY. 61 

The Fails inflated, blessed with \yinds of peace? 

Her. You queries follow in an order such 
I know not how to answer them, except 
To break the obligations that restrain. 
From Agamemnon grave I come, O ruler! 
His gravity, his silence much forbid. 
And long example holds in loyalty. 

Hect. Yes, go to him, and say accepted is 
The challenge; say, besides, the son of Priam, 
In panoply, will Achilles confront 
Between the city and your smoking camp. 
The day, to-morrow name, at trumpet's note, 
Issued upon the citadel. Ilium. 

Her, I go to Agamemnon to convey 
Your words, O prince! . . . Adieu, O king! 

Exit Hekald. 



SCENE JF.— In the Grecian camp. 
Ulysses and Kestok. 

JJlyss. Achilles soon will signify to all 
His prowess o'er the lusty, handsome prince, 
Hector, who towers despite antagonism 
Above w^hat Grecian eyes would see in him. 

JSfest. The dawn's birth-note comes; scenes radiant 
Kefresh; their colors ample mists unfold. 
As if by river-nymphs bedight. This day 
What contrast gory must assoil! That speech 



e2 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Of JSneas so orders thoughts they would 
Prevail to honor what it bore, on him 
Reflecting thus a beauty luminous. 
His voice had wisdom, though we heard it little; 
After-effect its echo is with charm to woo. 
Oh, would soon end this campaign w^earisome! 

Ulyss. To tend aloof from what you have avowed 
Is your profession now, at variance next 
"With this to plead for war! . . . Time-serving, prone 
To show a gift of eloquence, it leader, 
He follower, is I^estor's soft example! . . . 
Would you have Achilles turn from himself, 
As you, give way to Troy, outrages past 
And others yet condone, a downward step 
Pursue, as man ascending nevermore? 

JS'est. Ulysses, know the Greeks example are 
To all surrounding people of the earth. 
E'en to its edge where ocean shows no more; 
Know this example flawed, is moral power 
Descending, going to the glooms below. 
Greece should be just as much as friend as foe 
To all mankind itself besides: as foe. 
Attacked, tenacious of its rights; as friend, 
Invoked, forgetful of itself, but not 
Of law correct, impartial, dealing dues. 
The tone of ^neas appeared for this. 
All praise to him! . . . This conflict of to-day, 
Between their Hector and our Achilles, 
Should close in peace: if Hector victor be. 
Then Troy should arbitrator stand, but Greece 



PBIAM, KING OF TBOY. 63 

If Achilles. Of Agamemnon's ear 
Let 's seek attention to abet this course. 
Our strujjgle long is struggle's vanquisher, 
Us to exhaust by time's dilemmas weaved. 

ZUtjss. Your mother's nature is too much in you; 
Your father's, passive, steals from energy 
For war's stern claim that marshals soldiers true. 

Nest. It may be so. Still this maternal trait 
Of warmth, let Heaven (refined inspirer!) shield! 
Ulysses you less hard would be more dear; 
The counsels of the soul would stir you more, 
Attaching you to men and women, too, 
In recognition of life's righteousness 
Evolving in the races of the earth. 

JJlyss, Tut! tut! such phrases fit not what we are. 
To quaver noAv! Is hardihood to take 
The rear of diffidence, whose skulking shadow 
Keturn would home? Evoking rigid measures. 
Great war at hand, with terms effeminate 
You meet the call — at heart the otherwise 
Of what you seemed — the one that swore, as o'er 
The deep he came, e'en in his throes, sea-sick, 
To Neptune's ear, with strokes of battle's skill 
The best a path to find for victory. 
E'en in the citadel! . . . This truth all know: 
Of Frimii's lofty town we HI bend the head! 
Ye winds diffuse, this threat bear to Troy's throne! 
Ye winds, know, too, by strength or stratagem. 
That if or Hector or Achilles dies 
To-day our strife in neither death finds end! 



64 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

SCENE V.—lw Priam's palace. 
Priam, ^keas, Officer and Oracles. 

Pri. Wliere 's Hecuba? My wife, my favorite, 
Anear should be, her grace to minister. 

Offi. She, with the matrons all retired, is gossip 
Hearing. They w^eave, and smile, and sing. Betimes 
They change their mood, their theme exploits of men 
And demi-gods so long ago on earth; 
Of Hercules, the monsters slaying, he 
To be no more with mortals, now immortal. 
An expectation gloweth through their task. 
As hums each spinning-wheel's low monotone. 
To hear them oft the senses overtakes 
With new-made fire, reviving youth in age. 

PH. 'T is ever thus: men's deeds, however brutal. 
Yet modified by fame, are women's praise. 

Offi. They talked awhile of one most dear to all, 
Whose reputation is the commonwealth's — 
The bulwark of the state in days as these. 

Pri. Of Hector this. ^Yhere is he now? Not here 
He comes to know, as wont, his father's bidding. 

Offi. I heard a tumult in the street. To know 
The cause a messenger in speed was sent. 
Who soon returning uttered this in joy: 
Brave Hector hath from Andromache gone 
To meet Achilles, face to face to fight ! 
I learned thereafter, from another voice, 
Their parting was affecting e'en to tears. 



PRIAM, KING OF TROY. 65 

With heavy step she moved alone to mourn; 
With buoyant step he moved toward the gate. 
Those who, walls posted on, beheld him last 
Said he strode on the plain, a prince, indeed! 
His plumes high nodding, kissed by zephry Day, 
As if to her endeared. . . . x\non he meets 
His opponent in bloody exercise 
To vie. Oh, may good fortune him attend! 
'T is hard to deem him as a victim marked, 
His attributes so in his courage shine! 

Pri. Impulsive, goes he thus! Oh, that he were 
As one to calculate the means to win, 
And that ignored is courage void of arms! 

Offi. With him the people in elation are: 
Their beau-ideal from youth, when first he trode 
The thoroughfares of Troy. He grew; surprise 
Awakened often was with some display 
Of unexpected worth. In consequence. 
Their faith goes with his pride, believing that 
Destiny it approves. Thus they exclaim: 
Great Hector, now all Asia''s choice, return 
Will soon with glory to enwaft his name 
From land to land, a hero for all time! 

Pri. O people whimsical! purblind to plans, 
Adjusted to control crowned thrones, of Jove's 
Contriving, aspirations fresh with frost 
To wither, hesitate, and think, and know 
So to exclaim vexatious is to him. 
Who over you empowered rules, to hear — 
5 - E 



66 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

The very prattle of regardless mouths! . . . 
I would be, man, alone. Within there steals 
A cast of feeling made for solitude; 
The mixture, melancholy, drugs each thought. 

Exit Officer. 

I would have succor from the lips of Fate. 
The mind a gleam upholds, that shows my life, 
A river turbid, left a mother spring 
Of purity; it must flow on, by other streams. 
Still sullied more, self-anguished by its lot! . . . 
Behold! what 's this upon the dusky wall? — 
Ghosts roaming, shrouded, silent, horrid all, 
As squadrons come and go in dust and din — 
The din, how muffled rolling through these halls! 
A voice is heard, as if by winds faint borne: 
Of Priam^s lofty town ?ce HI bend the head I 
Is this an omen for deep purpose sent? 
Holds it relation to the fatal truth 
Of sure events approaching to embroil? 
Better to hope false-wise than to foretell 
Keality the present to make sad. 

Enter ^neas. 

Keturned again? Or spectre thou, bereft, 
From battle-sounding plains, thy body slain? 
Such seems. The air is full of winged forms. 

JEne. No, no ! If any ghost appears 't is his — 
To voice what happened has, what pangs! O gods! 



FBI AM, KING OF TBOT. 67 

Pri. O ^neas! is Hector sacrificed? 

^ne. Indeed, by hand of Achilles. He lies 
All bruised, unconscious of the deed 
Of Grecian victory, his flesh-life closed. 

PH. Such was the prophecy to moral counsel, 
And which, now proved, is reconciled by us 
In part because with previous blow it struck; 
And, too, because, once here, it master is. 
Kg rampart of the mind prevails against 
The subtle energy of sure-set laws. 
That steal within, dread presence to control! . . . 
O Peace! where art thou now, deserting us? ... 
O Troy! thy walls are but mere stumbling stones. 
Thy foes to fall upon, to rise again 
More wroth. The night of change thy towers cast, 
Xow beautiful in day, in ruin shall. 
Heaven proclaims: The Greeks are instruments; 
TJie gods offended Jit the penalty! 

uEne. Oh, go no farther thus declaring, king! 
There are remaining noble ones to guard 
Your person; others, too, of fortitude, 
Troy's enemies to front with valiant zeal. 
Until, as ashes pale, this zeal 's extinct. 
Hector, dear shade, although retired below. 
Lives in the ardor of a multitude. 

Enter two Oracles. 

Pri. Oh, men, to counterfeit the voice of Time, 
Announcing omens that this day refutes! 



68 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

Did you not both say Hector would survive, 
In grandeur clad, the horrors of this siege? 

1st Or. I did. 'T was Heaven prompted thus. 
For cause unknown it 's altered incidents. 

2d Or. That happen shall to give a lucky issue. 
Prized Troy's advantage comes from Hector's fate. 

Pri. Believe not so, ah me! Ye oracles, 
False pillars of this realm, your words ill-chosen — 
Ye tyros (better name!), know Priam saw 
This day's misfortune hover o'er, with woes 
At hand uniting woes to come. Witness 
Shall ye Troy low at feet of Greece, with wounds 
To plant; her throngs (proud, bowed in tears!) led off. 
The goad of bondage theirs, to foreign climes; 
And Andromache, Hector's widow now 
Too soon, by victor-hands, conducted, grieving. 
Then princess not, bid spin for boorish strangers, 
Her blushes artless confusion to their eyes. 
Presaging thus, ye men, by that abstruse. 
The vision's mirror facts to come reflects. . . . 
Ah, ^neas, prepare thee for the hour I 
The closing scene is nigh. Mayst thou outlive, 
An honor now to Jove, more glorious yet I 
My path declining is to Stygian wilds. 
Adieu! Adieu! seems proper now to utter; 
For whitened is the beard upon my chest; 
For autumn's gloomy color is at hand; 
For pale flocks bleat when frost destroys the flowers. 
Hence, ^neas, e'er faithful one, farewell! 
In Fields Elysian may we meet again. 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 69 



ANDROMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 

THE PERSONS. 
A]srDrtO:MACHE, icidow of Hector. 
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. 
Kalaxtiia, a confidante to Andromache. 
Orgilus, a Trojan hondman. 

SCENE I— In Buthrotum, city of Epirus. 

Andromache alone. 

An. It seems come hither they, the dead, from past 
Arising. Adversity doth impel 
With longings that impart to passing hours 
'T is known not what of feelings new to life. 
Not what it was is earth; 't is frozen o'er; 
Of yore it bore a vestment green with flowers. 
Beheld there is a girlhood fresh and joyful; 
A wifehood next, by Hector's heart besought, 
Adorement his in trusting prodigal. 
E'en knew his horses me, approaching, neighing, fed 
From these same hands. Those evanescent days, 
With moral meaning bound, translated not 
By tongue, so woven they are with the mind! 
Then when on breast they laid the babe, was felt 
Through him, my lord, through him, my son. 
Thence through his issue, joined to glory of 
My land, my Troy, my shrine, my home. No bird 
More fond than I of what made love confiding. 



70 DRAMATIC P0E3£S. 

But love, unstable, leave tli nature false 

In this, I would be other than I am; 

And true in this, I would be rather what 

I was, brave Hector's bride! A captive mourning. 

Condemned to desire to cheer these hours 

With the vague hope, enamored once again, 

To rise by love to love's superior lot 

Before enjoyed, in that the wish makes fear, 

Fear grief, grief double torment to one bound. 

Enter Pyrehus. 

Pyr. ^Y[\y so soliloquize? Your words overheard 
In part, bid me believe you are at war 
With some interior passion broke afresh. 
Is it a struggle 'gainst events that rise? 
If so, they shape; they wound; they heal, for time 's 
Their remedy, physician to events; 
But if 't is passion hidden, bitter to 
Your peace, rebels, conceal it not, lest growing 
Stronger it may oppress — a tyrant then: 
Free speech its foe, the friend of liberty. 

An. My spirit haunts a sphere unknown to men — 
Most all to you. A woman's heart 's unread 
As nature's is. Pardon this speech. . . . My lost. 
Where are they now? You stand between my ov.n 
(That are with likeness memory's scenes within) 
And me — that is the passion moving much 
You heard. A widow aching answers thus, 
When things so near the soul are half revealed. 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 71 

Pyr. Alas, thus to express oneself! At times 
You are above refined, but now below. 
Are measured not aright we Grecians here 
In deeming they you trammel with distrust, 
Retaining friendly favors from your state 
By way of punishment. Believe not so. 
They would all bear you offerings from good-will: 
Due courtesy, attentions from their doors 
And hearts, and sympathies the social hour 
To animate. But you are proud, and pride 
They fear in majesty, aloof themselves 
To hold it with a coldness to admire. 
To them would you a due complaisance show, 
You would find wondrous change, descending then 
To be as they — as they to love and be 
Beloved. Your grievance would be lost in joy. 
And you would live a Trojan Grecian turned. 

An. All, how could one indebted so to Troy? 
I would dishonor me by such an art. 
For nature scarce would give consent. Inhaled 
The air of freedom is enthralled; in that 
Same freedom I am otherwise than Greek: 
This freedom loved, take it takes life in part 
Away; what would remain despair would seize 
And warp, unworthy reason's oversight. 

Pyr. Your tongue with cold refusal is, the heart 
With warm assent! The tongue's words are as winds 
Impatient. Lulls the winds the sun, and may 
Your bosom words. May you apply that jewel 
(Which ever is encased in mortals best), 



72 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Whose potency enlightens as a flame, 
With thought arising o'er ties intimate, 
In universal union with mankind. 

An. Too much is asked. Can woman yield a hold 
On destiny? Herself so with it knit. 
She feels its strength; is with its knowledge fraught, 
Man ignorant — himself a host, unknown 
The foe. His feelings less are stumble -blocks; 
Her feelings more secure in prophepy. 
Thus as she is, you come most politic; 
Ask her with self-deceptions, ever prone 
To be, turn off from destiny — forego 
Her home, her friends, her land — the elements 
Of thought that are their fruit — to be half blind 
In future! . . . Minerva, the day forbid!. 

Pyr. To be an object of your ire, alas. 
Is now misfortune. Wronged you were when fell 
niustrious Troy; that terms of war imposed. 
It might have been vouchsafed a lot for you 
Less rough; this made events, not men. In that 
And this absolve you me. As for the present, 
Behold you I with kindness doubly deep, 
That with it bears the murmurs not full heard, 
Its current's depth controlling, better still 
For you. Withal, the inspiration yours, 
A sentiment my master is, and you 
Beholding as a queen see slave, not king. 
Oh, woman, know your power upon a seat 
Unconscious of a crown! For you it is 
To hear, to weigh, to judge, to amplify 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 73 

Your realm, with king by king petitioner. 

An. Ah, so to speak! Your sire remember; he 
My Hector sent to seek tlie shades below. 
In widow's plight to stand, forgetting not, 
Ought she forgive? My son, too, joy quenched out, 
Is sought. As if his mother ling 'ring by 
It seems — not knowing, lost, as spirit where 
To go — as if, approaching, timid, would 
Maternal succor plead, his father's ghost 
Oblivious of. 'T was dreamed the case was such; 
The warm impressions of the memory 
Aroused; estranging from what 's now, a pang 
Of double motherhood gave birth to more 
Than voice can tell. What feelings turn to die 
Unworthy are of womanhood; the best 
Till end survive, unvariable to do 
The service of a life. Then me cast not 
Where to belong counts woman void true love; 
A graceless figure, not to Beauty known; 
A mask-misleading face, her breast half stone. 

Pyy. Ah, to yourself still anger speaks. Within 
Your bosom nursed, itself it magnifies 
By what has been with what fear deems will be. 
'T is true, that Troy reduced to formless ashes 
A spectacle most melancholy is 
Unto the musings of a Trojnn's sorrow. 
But will they thither go, persist to haunt 
Eemains of w^ar — grim, crumbled wall by wall. 
As tree by tree in winter bare and bowed. 
Standing in solitude, awful, speechless? 



74 BBAMATIC POEMS. 

An. Troy's homes, gay temples, statues, palaces 
A medley is of things material — 
But ruins for faint shapes! — the raven and 
The owl's abode! The winds the heart's abode, 
Outlasting iron walls, enduring ever. 
The tenants of Troy's dwellings, where are they? 

Pyr. Alas, they victims are of circumstance! 
Now's solaces invite to other thoughts. 

An. How like a Greek you speak I — that quality 
Enclosing quality! Ulysses was 
As you, attaining by degrees of craft 
A final aim of war, to call it peace 
In Ithaca! What Trojans dread conferred, 
Not on them thrust, is Grecian peace — a gift. 
That covets what it gives in claiming due 
From foes of rights, of lives the sacrifice. 

Pyr. This fact remember kings mere subjects are 
As men, that are behind their title, fain 
To cast their errors to account of title, 
So little they esteem the worth of it. 
As kings, they folly do that censure in 
The governed moves, who little probity 
In them as men allow; whereas, as men 
They would kings rectify were but to right, 
Law, wisdom, charity the governed true. 
Degrees of virtue are a labyrinth 
Led through thick briery evils to the haunt 
Of excellence. To rule, is ill to one 
Committed; doing wrong discreetly is 
All rulers' right; and to gainsay this right 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 75 

(Wlierein they would, if could, shine forth as men 

Uncrowned) injustice is to kings. Be thus, 

Andromache! — desert you not the man; 

The king revile, who unto Troy was false 

In feeling as Ulysses was in deed — 

The king, the people's medium blundering, 

Too oft undone, abortive on his throne! 

An. Let this repeated be again, again: 
Her fealty is to the absent. Men, 
Assuming friendship, seek to break that bond; 
And you, as enem}^ for this approach. 
Avaunt! avaunt! . . . Why hesitate? . . . You, king! — 
The king of Epirus, the conqueror! — 
The author of such evils they obscure, 
As clouds, the azure of your glory. When 
The north-winds come the zephyrs sigh and crouch. 
Thus feelings fresh and innocent withdraw 
In dread when come surprising rigors yours, 
The dread the more because concealed they. 
From a demeanor's courteousness to burst! . . . 
Oh, what a land is this, chaotic with 
Environments so counter to one's rest! 
To find repose, let meditations dwell. 
In desert silence, native to the past! 

Exit Andromache. 

Pyr. She goes. Her kind was never seen before. 
Her character occasions doubts in those 
Who read with common nature life's strange book; 
These doubts embarrass so a penalty 



76 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

They are to bear. Alas, to think makes hold 

Obedient to their weight intelligence; 

Still not to think deprives; forge tfulness 

It is of her and self united not. 

It cannot be! A course pursued in fear 

An end attractive has; it courage gives, 

And heart-rewarding is. Vexations keep 

A charm receding just before to whet 

The pleasure for attainment soon. Till then, 

Let patience be a staff to lean upon; 

It can await the hour subjected thus. 

Ignoring what amiss to seekers happen. 

SCENE II. 
Andromache and Kalantha. 

An. Ah, Kalantha, another load of grief 
I have to bear to thee. Thy ears are now 
With ill news surfeited, despite the times 
Which thee would greet to-day with festival. 

Kal. Alas, hast seen thy husband's manes stalk 
Within the lunar glimpses of green woods? 
Thou art so secret with thy steps; so strange 
In manner, wild and tame by turns; so prone 
To hover by each busy highway at the morn. 
Likewise the solitude of ruins chilled by eve. 
It seems a fev'rish presence in the blood 
Is partly answerable for these thy doings, 
Evoking pity from thy wond'ring friends. 



ANDROMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 77 

An. What stone is this to cast at me? Do tliey 
All pity me? I am, despising it, 
Half pity-proof. Plague on a friendship thus! 
I would have it exemplify, and bear 
A stern approval, watching silently 
My vagaries. Were friends, a score or more, 
Of mine as I, their trials would prevail 
Not o'er the tongue to utter what the heart 
Aye hold should, locked as in treasury. 

Kal. They do not talk of thee; their eyes bestow 
Such glances as say more than words; they sigh, 
Next turn their faces to the wall. 

An. Ah, well ! 

Nature to follow thus 't is just. 'T is hard 
From what experienced is within to turn; 
Still I it all in shame would there disguise. 
Leaving suspicion not least espionage 
To stand upon. This qualm is pride's — so false! 
It would delude itself; deluded be 
A glory-bearer of some worth, from it 
Estranged because of hollowness. As said, 
I would not have these friends me note aggrieved; 
And yet, how kind in them to speak of naught 
I do or say, but keep it patiently! 

Kal. They by sheer means sheer friendship show, 
as well 
As gentle instinct that with breeding fits. 

An. From me, who Trojan am, Epirian they, 
Some gratitude is due. Howe'er I am 
Not of their clime: the body here, afar 



78 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

The spirit, roving in ol:)livion's dusk, 

With memory, a gleam, to pierce this dusk, 

Researching for the idols lost. . . . O Kemesis! 

What has been done, that to crime capital 

Belongs, dispensing by degrees to one 

Its opposite, guiltless deeming self? 

Kal. Ah, turn to ponder on the days that are! 
Within themselves an inspiration is. 
As in corn-foliage, Ceres' culture. 

An. Yet doubt is here, faith far. Perception has 
Too nice a love for joy to seek it where 
Treads duty not. This duty is no yoke: 
I call it freedom wailing for the dead — 
A solace thrilling with heroic heat — 
And when one comes to chill this mood all is 
Discomforted. Not then the value of 
A proffered sympathy I see, so blind 
Compassion grows. Ingratitude, a wasp, 
Next leaves a wound, that swells, confusing more 
And more, until I fain do go betime 
To ramble in the melancholy night. . . . 
An evil genius one — Pyrrhus — the cause! 

Kal. Hath he, pursuing thee, praised civilly? 

An. Aye! — more! — he would himself insinuate 
Within these arms of love. He bayed is held. 
Withal, I fear his eye, it hath such power. 

Kal. Oh, do not care for it! He would appease, 
Perhaps, thy troubles (too, his own remorse). 
In giving thee restored due rights. Regrets 
He consequences that averts not war. 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 79 

An. Mistrusting Greeks, ado is the effect; 
And this effect makes errors theirs seem gross. 
They are at variance with direction free 
And frank: so subtle, fitful, coy and bold, 
Is kept the spirit busy to trace aught, 
A\Tiich traced, is hid at last in secrecy. 
'T is hard, confronted thus, to merge with .those 
In friendship who, adroit, would alter it 
To serve themselves. As for their king, he is 
The figure-head of worst and best in them; 
So mixed with traits contrary to ideas 
Of regal excellence; he crawls or flies — 
And in his flight, we think of one just crawled — 
And on the ground, of one unfit to fly. 
^Ylien he is seen to come, I dread to move; 
Sensations rising so averse to him. 
His shadow on the floor they see, a twin 
To one within him darker still. 

Kal. Thou shouldst be woman-like, adapting self 
To fair conditions. Brooding, social not. 
Thy vision colors what is seen with hues 
Unseen by other eyes. To one depressed. 
The Orient's splendor laced with silver daw^n 
Is but a leaden object to the sight. ' 
What crown is this to thrust aloof? Is this, 
Its profferer, unworthy so it seems 
Not gold, but brass? AVhen sweet advantage comes, 
Ch, mock it not, but nurse it with fresh smiles! 

An. Unknown by thee, why do me violence thus? 
Secure from worldly fancies, virtue's sphere, 



80 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

Life's winged element, exalts the mien 

From this persuasion thine would have me do. 

Kal. Soften dejection into genial looks. 
It to oppose is friendship's duty. 'T is 
An enemy, enfeebling by too tine 
A course of sentiment, courageous not. 

An. Thou art, it seems, his advocate. A meed 
In view, thou dost attempt to form a plea. 
It, insincere, accords with what expects 
A judge, who listens with an ear that holds 
A conscience moved by human nature's best, 
By it, as by a lamp, the worst well read. 
So evident, O woman! servile, guard 
Thyself, lest rash turned aloof thou mayst be, 
Forbidden a return to my protection. 

Kal. I would not passive be, nor go too far; 
Involved in thought's false mist the medium true 
My danger is — and thine! Astray thou, can 
I lead thee to the goal assuaging those 
Who sutler if due means are me denied? 

An. Myself shall leader be. Above thy aid 
I feel; persuasive aid it is! — to some 
Near point, now cherished by thyself, which she, 
Th}^ mistress, must contribute such a share 
As w^ill her render servant to obey. 
Once more I thee admonish to beware! 

Exit Andkomaciie. 

Kal. Ye gods! how hard to understand she isl 
Deep, deep would intuition peer, her soul 



ANBBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 81 

Bare to behold. AYhy is it I, adept, 
Abiding with her long, discern not how 
To move her counsels, cherished, hidden, kept 
In mystery? With strength uncommon, half 
Unsexed, she stands with man's reserve, anon 
To pine as woman mutable, and shrinks 
As if in superstitious depths to tread. . . . 
But let he go! Awaiting, daj^s may come, 
Propitious as the breeze to ships shore-bound, 
My fortune's drift to favor with their swell. 
Meanwhile, prevailing not o'er her (for now 
The Parca3 thwart the better to endow), 
I '11 to the king, and answer how things failed 
In such a way as, still provoking hope. 
May lead him farther to espouse more done. 
Such game, within the net, well fed will thrive 
To feed and fatten who the meat provide. 



SCENE IIL 

Pykkhtjs alone. 

Pyr. "With night just gone, not tranquil is the flow 
Of after-musings. Sudden changes came 
Upon each dream — now fair, now dark. Oh, would 
Depart the spell! It as Aquilo chills. 
Sending from peaks of snow clouds cumbersome. 
With phantoms fraught. Methought, arising from 
The bed, my soul, delivered to eterne, 
6- F 



82 DBAMATIG POEMS. 

Sojourned within the boundary of the dead. 

The atmosphere translucent magnified 

Each object far. Sounds echoed e'er remote, 

Attuned, serene, divine. All distance was 

Contiguity, the centre self, the scenes 

In radius unfolding, interfused 

"With nature-giving arts, nature mystic seeming. 

Thoughts vivified arose, existence fresh 

(Expressed to them by some arcanum there) 

Glad paths to show, ideal and multiform. 

Ere long unpurged, unworthy feelings stole 

Within, as if controlled by agency 

Supreme, remorse to raise, as from the ken 

Faded Elysium. . . . Advanced a Shadow soon 

To hover and to menace wantonly. 

Going, returning oft. Tartarus then 

Behold! The Stream of Lamentation slow 

(Approaching it, not moving I) rolled on, 

Moaning as if a river-god. Beivare! 

Beware! appeared its utterance, as came 

A figure greeting, haggard, dolorous. 

In glamour's glim to stand. Kalantha she! 

I saw, as spirits see — interior — 

The fold in fold, that wisdom let ignore. 

As dusky Morpheus closed the drowsy dream. . . . 

The potency of Heaven at work would baffle 

That to this woman holds the key occult! 

Alas! too much has been to her confided — 

Too much, too much! that should be matter dark, 

Known to another not. Offset forthwith 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 83 

Must be what 's done with what to do — to meet 
This woman once propitious, tragic now, 
Driving repose e'en from this temple crowned. 

Enter Kalantiia. 

What have you to report? 

Kal. Andromache 

Opposed was to the tenor of the speech, 
That worked with all its skill in your behalf. 
I wish to have instructions more forthwith. 

Pijr. How 's she averse — comported she herself 
Against the rules of reason, prone to show 
The inner workings of an enmity? 

Kal, She censured you so freely, futile was 
The tide of her affections to confront. 
That do as sea-shells murmur to themselves 
A requiem. With eyes that weep she dwells 
On Troy. But such things must have daj's anew 
For consequence; these days' fresh thought may give, 
E»iierging she from widowhood distressed, 
A cheerful brow. Time serves congenial gifts 
To those that mourn to woo them to forget. 
Meanwhile, occasion to assist, I '11 move 
Her so (despite her mien, inscrutable 
At times), whilst seeming to pursue, as her 
Shall lead unto the presence of yourself. 
Her eyes then dry, her mood with favors full. 

Pyr. Speaks she of Achilles — of him, my sire. 
Who hardy Hector slew by Trojan walls? — 
Of his same corse dragged round the city thrice, 



84 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

Ere Priam begged his bones dishonored thus? 

Kal. Nay, nay! — upon her son Astyanax 
Disconsolate she meditates the more, 
Though Hector's name is in her mouth. Her heart 
Is wounded from the blow that took from her 
The babe in such a way as to conceive, 
E'en as an image, makes a shudder come; 
How cogent more reality! 
But this with careful surgery of love. 
That cuts to save, that suffers using skill 
More than the patient, shall I remedy. 
Her memory must of itself have less — 
Be dead in part — a portion lopped away — 
The past a blank so far as entertains 
That which you would not hear. Her leave to me 
In this, a woman moulding woman's will. 
And doubly able to sustain the effort 
In that I hold a phial whose contents, 
Once tasted, veers to those who give the mind 
Of those who take, subjecting them to go. 
To stay, to smile, to cry, to utter aught — 
Such is this charm's unfailing efficacy. 

Pyr. [Aside. 

What artfulness is this! I truly dreamed. 

[To Kalantha. 
How came you to possess this you speak of? 
It may a drug be baleful; caution must 
Foreknow the worst in best. 'T is policy 
Before proceeding in an enterprise 
To search the dangers out, whilst seeing them 



ANBB03IACHE IN CAPTIVITY. 85 

Less fearing them. Be candid then, nor fear. 

Kdl. Among the slaves from Troy is one adept 
In sciences from whom was begged the phial. 

Pyr, His name? His habits give, describing him. 

Kal. His name, Orgilus. Wrinkled, pale his face 
At intervals within the portico 
He falters. Once at time of sacrifice, 
Bareheaded in the sun, he was seen stand. 
As if in act to imitate a priest 
In giving oracles; they failed to come; 
Next passers-by him taunted, saying: What 
A post is Orgilus! Another day, 
A little skeptical, we turned an ear 
To him, his converse to invite; ere long. 
Addressing him with kindness, he with thanks 
Each favored all. In time him innocent, 
Not deep, we found. He reads the stars; the earth 
Is nature at his feet o'er-flowered ever. 
Guileless, discourses he of Cadmus oft; 
Of Saturn's advent and the age of gold. 
The gods revering, he would evil thwart 
And virtue aid; hence we confide in him. 

Pyr. Hath he acquaintance with Andromache? 

Kal. He her observes from far, nor dares to step 
Across to her. Keserved in modesty. 
He would not come e'en if invited once. 

Pyr. Your friendship warm, 't is plain, prevails 
O'er him, else he would not commit to you 
The philter. But, in this, your need, not hers, 
Not mine, may have procured the means to bless 



86 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

Yourself; if so, your zeal 's excusable. 

Still should it prove its means before to use 

In this one case, wherein success comes not 

Save through the medium of alacrity. 

So hard to move in Andromache bowed. . . . 

Where did you see this modest chemist first? 

Kal. Within far Troy surrounded by the Greeks. 
The bondmaids heard him tell of Helen oft; 
Of Sparta and the heroes of that land; 
Of Menelaus, the husband wronged, in ire. 
In dialect uncouth he spoke, and held 
Famed Troy would fall this Helen unrestored 
To the besiegers; next, the city sacked, 
Would Trojan slaves be scattered in strange lands. 
He lives with us to see his words fulfilled. 

Pyr. Do know aught else of him? Associate 
Does he with men that meet in crowds? T\Tiat trade 
Hath he whereby to eke his master's profit? 

Kal. Scarce more I know of him, this more is that 
He is reputed versed in prodigies. 
For having roved from land to land — to edge 
Of seas surrounding all the earth — and divers 
Kaces mingled with, he such tales can tell 
As multiply our fears of foreign parts 
And make us love our home. . . . He knows no men 
As friends, 'tis said; he labors 'gainst the wind. 
That pulls him back, where intercourse invites 
The gossips hereabout. . . . His trade unknown, 
Involved in privacy, conjectures he 
Arouses, lodging all alone. He seems 



ANDROMACHE IJST CAPTIVITY. 87 

His master, yet is not. He fortunes tells 
Betimes, receiving humbly coin therefor, 
Yet is as proud as Phoebus of his breed. 
Modest, still bold, or vain or real, it is 
His merit chief he hinders false insight, 
Living in peace,^ a tortoise to the world. 

Pyr. Enough discovered. Here your guerdon take. 
Go, w^oman, to your dwelling. Unto those 
Who may what 's passed between us turn to know 
Be statue-dumb, inquiry to frustrate. 

Exit Kalantha. 

Ah, yes! — go, handmaid, teaching not amiss, 
Though evil. Thus embroiled unworthily, 
Compunction showeth justice hath in me 
Concealed itself to rise, with warnings where 
To go. Thus government celestial moves 
In darkness, otherwise to lead than where 
Allure would foolishness, and makes us sage 
Through tests severe of operations slow. 
Henceforth my life within is life without. 
Exchanging phantasies for verities. 
Along decades to move to age, controlled 
By what it seeks in best of nature all. 

Enter Orgilus. 

What, man, intruding here! why so? 

Org. O king! 

The step intrusive comes, but held in leash. 
My wife here entrance found, 't is said; and fear 



88 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

With busy visions breaks propriety, 
Into your cliambers searcliing. She a drug 
Of deadly agency purloined hath from 
My closet, it believing love-inspiring. 
I would from her possession rescue it, 
Lest fatal consequences follow suddenly. 

Pyr. Your name? 

Org, Orgilus mine, Kalantha hers. 

Pyr, To Andromache go — quick! — find her there. 

Exit Okgilus. 

What adder is this woman! . . . Thus the dream 
Proves monitor to higher consciousness! 
To a sweet end let satisfaction wed! 

SCENE IV. 
Andromache and Kalantha. 

Kal. Disguise thy spirit in the mien that is 
Congenial to the lover's attitude 
Toward the smile that flatters him. Hide cause, 
Effect then tolerate. Were loyalty 
Not mine, I would induce myself 't is well 
That thou shouldst be in rue, and go from worse 
To worse, in hope to see thee in a state 
Where envy meanly brings superiors down. 

An. So skillful thou, persuasion thine has voice 
Seeming not human nature's counterfeit. 
Somehow, candid to be,, thou art much feared. 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY, 89 

Kal, Oh, say not so! 'T is luckless fortune thine 
That utters. Hence, forgiveness sweeten thought 
(That welcome might resentment, to thee false), 
And fill my mind with musings charitable! 

An. Yes, yes! the drug thou gavest me was said 
A cordial to be for nerves unsteady — 
Those sluices to the brain, exhausted source 
Of tears! Thy husband came announcing it 
A medicine dangerous. Charity, 
Indeed! Dost thou forgive, excusing profier 
This thine with ever ready casuistry? 

Kal. It was my husband's carelessness, alas! 

An. Ah, says no more! If tainted thou with guilt, 
The Furies thee will scourge. But innocent 
Let thee the present call. It easy is 
To pardon, since for pardon yearn I now; 
It seems that I committed have a thing 
Impious. Ringing in my ears it comes, 
It goes, 't is known not what. Why so for me 
Apj)arent is black Tartarus reserved? 

Kal. [^Aside. 

How she to humbleness constrains my speech, 
Assuming what it should, not what it would! 

[To Andromache. 
Thou surely art addicting these thy days 
To much on earth suggesting Tartarus. 
Remember as thou ailest that relief 
Extends a freedom clothed in royal robes. 
Oh, turn to it! The past is Tartarus. 

An. Ah, me! 't is true. It goadeth to the quick 



90 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

E'en to admit it so. But who of all — 
What presence from infernal regions stole 
To make on earth this Tartarus, with flame 
And smoke, and din of chariots, and troops 
Of archers rushing to the fore, and swords 
Of slaughter rich in Trojan blood to foam. 
And I to breathe a victim here, the siege 
Not o'er it seems? Whose figure is it comes 
Athwart my meditative paths, and haunts. 
And haunts, until thought reckons it a dread — 
A hydra moving in obscurity — 
A curse in instant time, so sealed in grief 
It fade will never in chilled memory? 
These answer to thyself, and feel results. 

Kal. Pray, cease! Love has its season as a flower; 
The autumn frost it kills, then summer's ray 
Kevives it on the stem: so 't is with love — 
'•T is nipped; misfortune's chilly north-winds blow; 
Then zephyrs come, its fervor to inspire 
Again. Thus Kature nature forms with cold. 
Then heat; with night, then day; contrasting change 
With change in endless course. Then why should we 
Allow the half not wished proportioned more 
To be than destiny designs, until 
Growing it cramps the other half desired? 

An. Woman, 't is vain to parley with thee ever. 
The all in all walks on thy sandals, earth 
To earth, for aye the winged element 
Prohibited. . . . Hereafter go thy way, 
I mine. Thy seed, ill sown, proves false to trusti 



ANDBOMACHE IN CAPTIVITY, 91 

SCENE V. 

Pyrrhus alone. 

Pyr. Alas, to be the object of disdain! 
No regal rights saved self from its effects; 
It lived subdued in glances, made the mien 
Its citadel, and darted words to wound. 
As slingers cast sharp stones, e'en unrebuked 
To do, its liberty in moral power. 
Yet I, new-dowered with fresh strength, survive — 
Survive the flood. Repulsed awhile the shore; 
But stood at last a being stern to breathe, 
A slave no more to Neptune's furious scowl! . . . 
Remembrance turns and dwells on scenes gone by. 
Oh, how, returning from the siege of Troy, 
Applauses swelled! Wain after wain of spoils 
Enriching Epirus! The slaves in herds 
Affected were, and gladly, by that day, 
Aforetime woes forgetting. How prevailed 
Andromache, with speechless majesty — 
"With much within herself that ruled men's eyes, 
E'en with her shadow, though a captive mourning! 
Self learned, though high, from her, though low in 

state. 
The space that was between us two; it strove 
With what is best in thought, with special speech 
A cause in love to advocate, and won 
At last — impressing onward with slow art; — 
Won, too, the kingdom of fair Epirus! 



92 DBAMATIG POEMS, 



THE DAUGHTERS OF (EDIPUS. 

THE PEESONS, 

Creon", Mng of Thebes. 
Nearchus, a confidant to Creon. 
Officer and attendants. 

SCENE Z— Thebes. 

Antigone and Ismene. 

An. Unhappy moments! Music heard is none, 
Yet ears would hear, with soothing rapture stirred, 
This antidote for grief. I would, O life! 
Have music for thy sake; on heaven gazing. 
Would have thee breathe its primal innocence, 
A being better, fresh with beauty's power. . . . 
It seems our race, outsprung from CEdipus, 
Is doomed to evil, shame and tyranny. 
And silent bitterness so prolonged. 
Hence I, as from imprisonment, would flee 
From self — my race — in expiation not 
For that my father did displeasing Jove, 
And all earth's watchful, ghostly hosts of virtue. 
But no — it cannot be. Here must remain. 
Housed up in what I am, my fate my thoughts. 
Deep in vexations I of harsh events. 

Is. Thou sayest truly, sister. What we are 
We cannot be from it; what us has come 



THE DAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPTJS. 93 

Appears avenging, proper not for those 

That love the virtues. Still it is some fault 

Lurks in the blood, I often say, that calls 

For our chastisement, seeming harsh, y^i that 

May prove, when this dark fault is cast away. 

The function of salvation. Some event 

Of happiness, superior far to things 

Long suffered, may transpire. Content thee then 

In deeming that the worst has passed; behold, 

As from a ruin near, arise the walls 

Of safety to confound our enemies. 

An. Didst hear the latest tidings that they bear? 
A brother's sister thou, and still so cold! 
Here, too, thou movest with assurance such 
As fancy kindles, counsel prone to give. 
Whilst he, thy brother, stark in death, remains 
Unburied on the stony, star-lit plain, 
ThQ rites of funeral prohibited. 

Is. Believe I hardly it. So fair, so brave, 
O Polynices gone! Our brother dear, 
Eteocles, interment had. He was 
Lamented by his comrades dutiful, 
By me not less, affectionate to yield. 
My ties of blood out-grieving them, impelled 
By friendship and sad ceremony. 

An. Oh, boast not thou! — unbecoming to the hour 
It is. Whilst Polynices' body lies 
To vultures ready to devour a prey 
(To them delivered by his uncle's oath, 
Creon's, our guardian, who sits on the throne 



94 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Our father graced), be serious with thy will, 
O sister! to oppose his will who rules, 
Forgetting justice in severity. 

Is. What can I do? What canst thou do? Mistrust 
Gives pause to thought to wonder what to do, 
And answer leaves us none save that to fear 
Our uncle more. Confronts he sympathy, 
As thou dost know, with speech of violence, 
Making meek women tremble as he strides. 

An. O sister cease! Thy instincts are amiss. 
Always understand duty courage teaches; 
It would my brother timely burial give. 
He otherwise must wander desolate 
About the earth, his soul permitted not 
To go with Charon o'er the guarded stream 
Unto Elysium. 

Is. Wouldst thou defy 

Thy uncle, and, perhaps, the powers above 
Himself, that move him oft to do what he 
As man would leave undone? Beware, O sister! 
It seems thou standest near a precipice, 
Half-blind, bewildered, going but few steps 
To fall. In falling so, accursed as 
Our brother, thy own body would entombed 
Be not. What double portion then for grief! 
Ah, me! to mourn thy fate, his fate, to deem 
Ye wander vainly both about the earth! 

An. Sister, he is my brother; thine also: 
To bury him my duty; thine also. 
United thus, our union strengthen we, 



THE BAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPVS. 95 

For mercy's sake, to find a sepultre 

For him forthwith ere Time delay condemns. 

Is. What I thee aid? The king would forfeit ask; 
Compel to look on Death, the enemy. 
The urn we prize not holding me entombed! 

An. The king! — comes he by what authority 
Upon the pathway of a purpose dear 
It to defeat? Why fear him so? The will 
Of woman, zealous though in weakness, touched 
By kindness, makes men turn about in shame, 
Dreading the ministry of love's reproof. 

Is. Still let the deed of burial lie within 
Ourselves, inaction's child: the gods will know 
It there, rewarding what we would with what 
We should encountered by impediment. 
Is in a passiveness the better course; 
It pleases; not in an advancement rash, 
Which galls authority, it making lose 
Its reason in emotions prone to evil. 
Reflecting on we have endured, and this 
Endurance ours so long, why ask we not: 
Where is respite, hy any source, with halm 
Assuaging for awhile? Come, sister, come, 
Let 's seek it far — another country in. 
Dividing seas a precious space between 
Old woes, new joys. . . . Infernal powers, attest 
Nowise abet I what is bid undone, 
And do persuade against unlawful things! 

A71. Alas, go then! Antigone alone 
Her brother's body, wetting it with tears, 



96 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Shall crown with pious sepulture. Secure 
To go, he '11 journey to the Fields, to her 
Indebted for the happhiess. AVhat more 
Demands the conscience for reward than this: 
AfTection moved through peril right to do; 
Affection found fulfillment's anadem? 

Zs. It is not love of flesh debars to aid; 
Though over-hanging shade of danger comes 
To startle vision, flesh cares less for it; 
This would it undergo, earth's ills permit; 
But that so poignant, creej)ing, essential 
Without proportions, evermore enthralling, 
I dread. . . . O sister! rouse from reveries; 
See death related to thy soul in such 
A form that fate to come is pardonless. 

An. Unworthy thou, reluctant thou, O sister! 
From honor's sacred emblem gone and lost, 
In gloom to wander so, and fain to go! 
Thy uncle's nature half in rule, thy own 
To welcome it too ready with the word! 
Ah, well, the funereal rites must mine alone! . . . 
Subserve, ye hands, my brother's destiny, 
No kindred else a tenderness to add! 

Is. If must, then shalt thou do — alone! But in 
Thy doing keep it private from report: 
This much to Ismene a duty is; 
Otherwise such may happen dark to name. 

An. Expedient one! what time the thunder comes 
Thou art abashed ; when lightning comes, forlorn. 
A bud would face a storm, and thou wouldst shrink! 



THE DAUGHTERS OF (EDIPUS. 97 

Is. Thou art, distracted, not conditioned well 
To answer what impresses best. Therefore 
Overlooked is contempt expressed by thee. 
Another time let passion cool to ashes, 
Leaving thy reason to resolve fair things; 
Foul things expressive of one's poise are not. 
Therefore, sorrow awaiting, joy will then 
Receive one true as sister dear restored. 
Oh, may the hour be sooni Till then, adieul 

Exit ISMENE. 

An. Ah, well, Ismene goes! Her absence means 
Much to Antigone. Appears it she. 
Now gone, hence better seen, is not the person 
Thought pictured to myself : of womanhood 
The proof lies in the deed, not in the guessing. 
How frigid her demeanor! Heart, how hardl 
Of pity destitute, dry to the taste 
Of noble feeling doing noble work. 
And deeming those thus actuated lost 
Within the feeble mazes of distress I . . . 
From this, O sister! turn I now; to thee, 
Dear brother, go my steps. It seems impels 
Thy ghost. May action favored be! If so. 
Thy bones inhumed sliall be; thy soul appeased 
Shall from its dismal state descend 
To Charon's boat, embarking to attain 
Elysian Fields, thy kindred to rejoin. 
7-a 



98 DBAMATIG POEMS, 

SCENE II.— In Creon's palace. 
Creon and ISTeakchus. 

Cre. What rumor this that stirs? 'T is said, the law 
Defied, that Polynices' body hath obtained 
Interment. Who the traitor that would do 
This thing? He 's free, unpunished for a time; 
More fatal be the hour detecting him I 
If what is said be true, confirm it so. 

JVe. No further know I than from rumor comes. 

Cre. Why bid you trace the rumor to its lair? 
Unconscious else to what the crown is due. 
Still falter not to go to find wherewith 
To ease from doubt. 

Exit Nearchus. 

These Argives bold, of whom 
Was Polynices chief, may have through zeal 
Their courage left approach too near the mark 
Forbidden, cast defiance at law's means. 
By which they would, upraising, steal within 
The sacred limits of imperial rights, 
An by usurping be authority 
Unto authority, subjecting by some chance 
The very kingdom to plebeian feet. . . , 
How vexed to note ambition's seething sea; 
To meet cajolers ever to the front; 
To know that shadow near, hypocrisy; 
To hear, e'en by the throne, those stinged whispers 
That hint at hand of fell conspiracy, 



THE DAUGHTERS OF CEDIPUS. 99 

To breathe in struggle soon, opposing hate 

To hate, and shield to shield, in bloody bounds 

To execute! A mark for obloquy, 

In these sore tempest-times, his silence art 

To veil those self-endearments that make kings 

Mere men, and that make fears, and these those acts 

That men, not kings, despotic call, the lot 

Of Creon is! Hence, how with tact impartial, 

Yet ones unruly holding in a course. 

To act, evades at times the will; is blurred 

The judgment, breeding for humanity 

Distrust, for self likewise. Thence thought refers 

To Heaven for light in darkness — torch to guide 

The steps — to move the atmosphere of minds. 

With favors fraught, obedient they to view 

Their best in him, their king, sustaining one 

Another with accord. But Heaven is dumb. 

Hence, he must still the mask of hardness wear. 

The people know the face, the heart unknown. 

Then face be king, implacable as night 

Concealing soothing day, the heart of time! . . . 

Appears it Thebes, despoiling now herself. 

Sits weeping by a willow near a stream 

(As yet veiled, robed as mourning widowhood), 

As if in knowledge of careers ordained 

Her children, grim and soon, to overhaul 

With irony. Events control events. 

Having no cause in that of mankind worthy; 

They tend not from a something worst of past 

To a something best, future's purgative. 



100 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

Till then, the goddess Peace will not to Thebes, 
Bearing aloof what would rebel. . . . Discord, 
O (Edipus! was from thyself. Thy sons 
Their father proved in simulating thee; 
Kow all the base results from what thou wast 
Encounter hour by hour a censure futile: 
It powerless; surviving, they o'erwhelm 
As waves o'erwhelm the eddy of the shore. 

Enter Nearchus. 

Ne. It is too true! — delivered to the tomb 
Hath Polynices been. The people stare 
And marvel at the deed, dispersing as 
In fear when questioned as to him so bold, 
So law-renouncing, so confronting risk 
As thus to tread the field of legal danger 
In doing it. Appear, sheep-eyed, they as 
Those who tend to forbidden paths were once 
The wolf away, their leader now not seen. 
Mysterious. IVhat notes suspicion near. 
Much more imagination notes afar. 
Mingling what is within with that without. 
Until my breast enkindles doubt on doubt. 

Cre. What, what! — hat*h Polynices been interred? 
Curse it! — What traitor hath interment given? 
Curse him! — Who do concealment help in this? 
Curse them! . . . Ye witnesses above, ye gods, 
Kemand the guilty ones to justice sudden! . . . 
When happened the event? 



THE BAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. 101 

JVe. A time most e'er 

Conducive to the men of treason, worst 
Then doing — in the ambush of the night. 

Ore. Thus danger comes and takes us in the back; 
It uses darkness still unrighteously. 

iVe. Alas, too true, with overreaching stealth! 

Cre. 'T is well to hesitate in quest; lest he. 
The doer of this wrong, should bear the palm 
Of victory in feeling that distrust 
His work beholds, and flee the consequence. 

JSfe. Let vigilance, not words, investigate. 

Cre. Let scruples seek an art too fine for men. 
Appropriate to kings, men to undo, 
Who with their bluntness act, betraying them 
Little by little to the judgment seat. 
• JS'e. Let silence then be bait to trust. 

Cre. Treason 

To find is task for instinct; still to lose 
For reason to amend a failure hard; 
For this, be silent altogether not, 
As words are arms stragetic when well used. 

Ne. Let silence be to words a monitor. 

Cre. What man or men can be suspect in this? 

-ZVe. Of this one here, of that one there 't is known 
Enough to follow to their haunts, at last 
Them to detect in some oflfense that would 
Debar their liberty; but these confound, 
Not clear decision guilty ones pursuing. 

Cre. Then do what 's well, arousing senses all, 
In such a way as will take note of much. 



102 JDBAMATIG POEMS. 

Your mask indifference, until the game 
Comes in tlie range of a conviction sure. 
Till then be shrewd; be officer to none, 
But citizen to all; in converse move 
Congenial to the common flow of talk; 
Meet smile with smile, regardless of tlie proof 
Borne in the face of things of mischief done. 
Thus acting, have for model nature near, 
With movements none unconscious of a part 
That one, not acting, would to failure sink. 
Thus trained, depart, all Thebes a hunting field. 

Ne. Nearchus goes. Let duty be the soul, 
Accomplishment the body of intent; 
The latter awkward moveth to an end, 
The former would unerring what it should. 
Then blame not him if all is not success 
Subserving you, for aught amiss may hap. 

Exit Nearchus. 

Cre. Yes, yes! Xearchus goes, the sj^cophant! 
So eager to observe observing vain, 
lie makes forms familiar strange, and forms 
Uncommon usual — thus he crawls, though man ! . . 
O royalty! Vvhy not abandon thee? 
With all I am, with purple clothed, makes that 
To alter not in self to relish what 
Grants plain simplicity a hermit knows. 
To bear compunction; this awakes a touch 
Of wild desire self w^ould not have; yet it 



THE DAUGHTERS OF (EDIPUS. 103 

Maintained abides. Believing that accused, 
Of daring eyes the stigma, disappear 
The purer feeUngs once famiUar! 
Kot fear, bosom's Eumenide, relents; 
No virtue it expels; no succor comes 
Persuading it to go afar. . . . Then Sleep, 

Sleep! as ancient as the earth on which 
We dwell, so powerful to bear thy balm, 
Approach from shrouded mystery with dreams, 
Efiacing what is felt with deep repose. 

SCENE III. — An area by the palace. 

Antigone, Ismene, Nearchtjs and Officers. 

Is. O sister dear! the king doth know the deed; 
A spy hath traced it to thy door. Thou art 
Condemned by many, others grieving. Still, 
Thou must with self-denial soon do more — 
Thou must avow what 's done. 

An. I live in this: 

1 would not seek the favors of the world 
Departing from myself, to leave behind 
Within a better comfort than is found 
Without. So colored with profanities, 

So counter to philosophy this world, 
I know not how to bend to him, the king. 
Its head, its heart, without upon myself 
Inflicting sorrow. Still I '11 go to him. 
Confession make, yet free within to shield 
A potency, and feel in silence blessed. 



104 BBAMATIG POEMS, 

Is. With thee shall go I then, conjoint to say 
"Was Ismene a prop to this, thy deed, 
By him detested, ready to endure 
What comes expressive of his vengeance certain. 

An. Oh, do not have it so! Thou didst oppose 
What was the prompting of my heart with what 
Was from thy mind. 'T is not becoming thee 
To offer now to stand, with such a mind, 
Thy sister by the sentence to receive 
That her is due in fullness of effect. 
Because the cause was hers. 

Is. Keprove not so. 

My duty owed to thee its wisdom choice; 
Pretending, it meanwhile supported thee 
With that from thee concealed. Now comes it forth. 
In sympathy it feels for thee with such 
A warmth that this thy cause is mine, whereby, 
Beginning thus anew, in union now 
We are, assuming equal amnesty. 

An. Sister, thou dost delude thyself. How couldst 
Thou have been with me in thy soul, when thou, 
With tongue so ready, didst upon my heart 
Cast wounds that only partial rancor gives? 
Surely, an evil phantom at thy ear 
Made thee indifferent to thy brother stricken 
Whilst so involved in anger's hastiness 
Me to frustrate in his behalf. 

Is. Alas, 

I did but try to waken to the risk 
Most oft encircling those infringing laws. 



THE DAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. 105 

The risk thou didst not fear. Thy eye dwelt not 

On outward things; thy mind, content with what 

It held, supplied the sight with sacred rites 

Proceeding from thy tenderness. Absorbed so, 

It natural was to study to alarm 

That preservative sense that bids us all 

Take care of self. Revolving o'er thy lot 

To come, departed from thee I as shook 

Each limb impatient. Know my love for him, 

Our brother, is as thine; withal for thee 

It is as strong; then why should I have quit 

This love for thee to leave thee deviate 

In not availing of all that is mine 

Of reason and its ministers to draw 

Thee from thy peril? Sister, see aright: 

How stood my motive that was puzzled much 

What course to follow to advantage bring 

Unto our common selves, whilst came the hope 

That he, the king, relenting, might permit 

The funeral pile unto our brother dead. 

An. Why dost thou to such means resort as balk 
An understanding of thy womanhood? 
Thy variance is oft masculine, oft deep 
In method, semblance hiding much, I am 
Half loath to call thee sister. Why to me 
Be not a twin in fundamental love. 
In mental concourse one, obscuring naught 
Thus bound? Apprising thee so prone, my words 
Are on my lips ere time takes time to form 
Them into syllables, and ere I know 



106 DBAMATIC FOEMS. 

What 's said 't is said. I can not hold account 
Of what I feel or think or do from thee devoid 
Of those sensations which rebuke with such 
A force regret is mine. But thou art swayed 
With such conditions 't is a mystery 
To solve that we are kindred of one bed, 
Save by an instinct faintly knowing each 
As brute knows brute. 

Is. Sister, no more! 

Thou art unjust in judging traits of mine. 
I know not how it is; but confidence 
Withheld is modesty discreet, or tone 
Of manhood curbing woman's mouth, or ill 
Within the blood of candid words afraid. 
As thou, I am in dark about the matter. 

An. Is felt w^hat thou dost say is so: a cloud 
Doth settle o'er me, keeping indistinct 
Much that I, curious, would perceive. Although 
Too close in speech, reserved to give where well 
Thy secrets not, yet blameless thou. Still there 's 
Within thee, counterpoising to my wish, 
Some quality that on occasions thoughts 
Evoke, admiring faintly, drooping soon; 
At others, selfish censure that this wish 
Would have thee hear for penalty: in this 
I go below myself, in that above; in both, 
A medium false, discerning I not clearly. 
Oh, could we mortals eke our day's scant light, 
What virtues would adorn its sentiments! 

7s. Pause, sister, pause! Without this area gaze. 



THE DAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. 107 

Who 's 3'onder coming scanning all around? 
Nearchus! Seems his shadow him before 
Advances, dragging him behind. As wont, 
He mutters 'tween his teeth. Hq sees us not. 
Let us retire within the peristj^le. 

An. Ah, no! I would not have myself confess 
Thus so a cowardice to consciousness. 
That would, despite the faults it bears, sustain 
Not this. Let us confront him with a look 
Of houor, aid to innocence, if so 
We can. . . . He turns to us. I would not fear, 
Yet fearing thrills. He is the king's own spy, 
Tigerish. Comes he! Sister, lend thy arm 
To bend, supporting me, around the waist. 
He nearsi Let 's turn away; my breath is short. 

Is. No, no! let us retain our ground. Now hap 
What will, we must the worst with strength repel, 
Forsaking not the best some end to gain. 
The gods behold, with whom resides our weal, 
Dividing it for those here disappointed. 

Enter Nearchus. 

JYe. Ye trembling aspens, what a scene presenting! 
Ah, well! . . . The king, Antigone, in wrath 
Hath spoken, intercessors vain. Many 
From him in apprehension turn. Accuse 
Thee others, saying thou at night hast sinned 
In giving forms of burial to the one. 
Who' traitor to his country, was outlawed. 



108 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Kow, what misfortune thine! What grief for it! 

The king, in terms repeated, hoarse, declares 

Aversion for the heirs of (Edipus, 

Anathemas succeeding as he hears 

The late injunction violated is. 

Oh, say thou guiltless art, and thus relieve 

Suspense that hangs mist-like about all Thebes! 

An. The deed was mine. A sister's right impelled 
To wish a brother's bones immunity 
To have from fowls devouring flesh therefrom; 
His spirit gifted, loved so well by many, 
To enter Pluto's bounds, arrested not 
By Styx, the Fields Elysian to extend 
To it their welcome. Well reflected I 
On what was due to him, on what was due 
To Creon; weighing these confused, was chosen 
The firmness of my love for leadership. 
That held obedient every faculty 
Of grosser nature to accomplish this 
You censure so. The consequence was known. 
And knowledge half prepared my fortitude 
To aim at no evasion power provokes — 
To die if need be. Having for reward 
The joy of doing well, joy 's conqueror. 

Ne. To such would further listen not my ears. 
Would eyes behold thee friendly to the state, 
Its pillar clothing as an ivy thou! 

Is. I, too, am guilty, scorning the impulse 
That lurks within, suggesting phrases veiled, 
That would aught hide, insidious to avert 



THE DAUGHTERS OF (EDIPUS. 109 

The blame; the ostracism; the penalty 

Most stern imposed by judgment's seat. To her 

A relative I am; together Ave 

As children played; we are as women bound 

By ties so mutual they most precious are 

Unto ourselves. I knew beforehand what 

Was her intent, inclined to yield as is 

Her wont to mercy's call. I sympathized 

With her in part; yet failed I her to hinder 

In the accomplishment. Ismene thus 

Is guilty, wishing thus to stand with her. 

iVe. Thou, too, false subject to authority! 

Is. Yes, let our uncle, Creon, hear it so. 

JVe. Ah, well! I, messenger, to give to him 
Who circumspect implored, forbidding me 
Awhile with accusation none to join! . . . 
Having well-wishes in respect to you. 
His nieces, he especial for your sake 
Won praise from those, your opponents, who were 
Most quick to cast suspicion on j'our backs. 
Then still he favored you when rumor came 
More pointedly arraigning you, with proof 
So positive it made him tremble — cheeks 
Both pale, eyes both uneasy. Came anon, 
Assailing him, his wish to hear them not. 
Such words, such phrases and such sentences 
Concerning you as chafing him he burst 
With passion, full persuaded that the truth 
Alone you charged exactly. Thus from him 
I came, and found you here, O guilty pair! 



110 DRAMATIC POEMS. 

An. Return to him and say Antigone 
Will yield to the outcome, yet with assent 
Seeing no law. At first she wept to think 
Creon's decree to break; but having it 
Once broken, so enforced with faith that what 
She did is right, above the awe of kings, 
With better purpose proud she stands. . . . Alone 
I am in this, and she, my sister here. 
Is innocent; return and tell him so. 

Ke. Antigone, have pity! Bid me take 
That thou as she art innocent, a task 
Much lighter! Trifling is the falsehood. 
Thy guilt, a heavy load, must cause remorse 
More grief than falsehood aiming for thy weal. 
A life's own fortune lies within thy mouth; 
A whisper is enough. Dost understand? 
Then utter it, oblivious not of friends 
Who wait in doubt and anxious for thy safety. 

An, No, no! in fear of gods, my thoughts not less. 

iVe. Still pity me, for go I unto one 
Who, inexorable, is rash to act. 
Compassion crushing, fiery in revenge. 
His end attaining by the surest course! 

Exit Nearchus. 

Is. Alack, alack! Impressions come that make 
So dizzy now the brain things are amiss. 
Aught inimical now influence would, 
Turning virtue's motive out of doors! . , . 



THE BAVGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. Ill 

Eecede let us to some near place retired; 
There let us sit, assuaging senses all. 
Something may yet be done us from to loose 
The fatal tangle making to involve 
Our lives, to perish by degrees. . . . Oh, thou 
Hast been bewildered from thy better self 
By a false deity, hell-born, profane, 
Thy frailty to mislead, apart to act 
Against prerogatives of innocence! 

An. Be not afflicted. Thy true self, away 
From thee, will come again. Remember, fear 
Is at the heart where courage was before; 
Thou didst inspire me with it now not more 
Than half an hour. I feel -its tone as yet 
Dilating as harp-sounds the drooping head. 
Oh, what half phantoms we as women are! 
We are embodied in too false a mould, 
That, not all ours, or fickle, rash or wise 
Makes us, the sum oft small, the kind oft poor. 

Is. Oh, this is not a time for utterance! 
I want to be alone. Oh, go awhile 
Away! A heavy sickness by the heart 
Thy presence aggravates, disdaining thoughts 
Of duty that would fortify the will. 
In sympathy with thee, to be more strong. 

An. I go. . . . Eesolve, my master be. I turn 
From tribulations of life's day to calm 
Of death's near night. . . . O flesh, dim servitor! 
Thy mission done, sink in oblivion's flood; 
Thou art of earth — mere dust. . . . O soul, adored! 



112 BBAMATIG POEMS. 

Be now my all, supreme; with speed direct 
Me from where flesh is now to where 't is well, 
Salvation there, its presence serving, bowed 
Before the humble. . . . Nerves, be strong! I would 
Not quaver now in what intent conceives, 
Lest shame might conscience burn, and form 
On it a scar forevermore. . . . Thus, thus! — 
Fare thee well, sister, fairest Ismene! — 
Whilst dauntless is the mood I must be going. 

Exit Antigone. 

Is. What can she mean? The figures of her speech 
Abstruse! But that her custom is, impulse, 
Doth bear her forth. A heart of dove, a wing 
Of eagle, too, both hers! Still in her features 
There something was unusual e'en for her. 
My words may have offended her; if so, 
Herself restored to love will come again 
And smile on me. . . . This head doth ache and ache. 
What drowsy numbness this that lulls my tongue? 
'T is well she 's hence, repose a panacea. 

Enter Nearchus and Officeks. 

Ne. Ismene, what appearance this! Upon 
Thy cheek a snow-white pallor is. This day's 
Sad business, unsettling to strong men. 
Hath called for austere bearing of ourselves; 
But thou, one delicate, succumbing now, 



THE DAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. 113 

With firmness gone, art proof, indeed, of what 
The struggle costs. Condolence bends to thee; 
It would not, futile, tender what it hath 
To aid distress. Withal, it would not go 
Too far; it hath intelligence it shrinks 
To tell. The torrent of the times brings down 
Disasters on proud heads. Impious thought, 
Though sufTring moves to it, dares not reproach 
The gods, for evils are their plagues men due. 
Let patience be the gospel then of mortals — 
Mortals that blend as mist in ether high 
With immortality, Time's province fairest! 
This good should be the chief to instigate 
Our progress through the moments trying us. . . . 
Thy sister, Ismene, hath more than erred; 
Her trespass Creon rouses more and more — 
A lion rampant he. These officers 
Standing hard by he sent with mandate clothed 
According to his wish. Dost know the rest? . . . 
Thy sister, where is she? 

Is. I do not know. 

Just ere you came she left. She here will be 
Anon. She 's much disturbed, and wanders to 
And fro. Her hair disheveled fell adown 
The back; her garments loose the zephyrs seized 
As if in wantonness. Two passers-by 
Did look on her with sorrow joined to awe, 
Shaking their he^ds as they moved off. I should 
Have gone with her. He mien bewildered so, 
8-n 



114 BBAMATIG POEMS, 

A chain it is that to itself may link 

(So heavy now with weight accrued!) more harm. 

But here I am, and she aloof. She here, 

There I should be. She should be Ismene, 

And I Antigone; for grievance drugs 

Me so the worst I would have happen me, 

Not her. 

JVe. Which way went she? 

Is, I think without 

The city's walls toward yon cypress grove. 

JVe. Officers, thither go; if her you find, 
A prisoner of state with her return. 

Exeunt Officers. 

Is. How cruel is the king! Yet you are kind; 
For you would hide what he determined has. 

^e. In self-esteem find courage to assist. 

Is. To know the terms precise he has imposed 
The ear just now to listen would recoil. 

Ne. Still know, prophetic shadows hover near. 

Is. As fears the bud the frost, so hope fears them, 
Chilling the ardor of warm maidenhood. 

Ne. Take time awhile assuaging fear aroused. 

Is. What 's best, that would, were mercy's news 
Vouchsafed, be bright, dispelling vapors thick 
Which rise, enshrouding from occurrences; 
That would awhile, surmising, fain believe 
That all is well, and what is present past. 
Making the future golden, promising. 



THE DAUGHTERS OF (EDIPUS. 115 

Yet 't is foolishness! — ^jargon! — vagary! 

Stands Reality before with mantle dire, 

Material as the flesh in which breath is, 

We facing where, ere long there, i^erish all. . . . 

Nearchus, then say on! Be foul or fair 

The tidings, speak of Antigone's fate. 

JVe. The king gives forth she shall alive be cast 
Entombed, atoning for her late offense. 

Is. Oh, loathsome sentence, from an uncle, too! 
To die shut up with perturbations strange! 
The mould, the worms each vital moment seizing! 

JVe. I would friend's comfort give; my functions bid 
A cold performance of command. . . . Behold, 
An officer approaching here in haste. 
What can this signify? 

Enter Officer. 

What, ho, man! Where 
Is she for whom you have been sent? Foot-speeding, 
Such tells of some mishap betiding late. 

Offi. She — Antigone — the others guard her form. 

JVe. Ho, ho! give voice, and stammer not, its Avords. 

Offi. Within the cypress grove, at mouth of cave, 
Her body lies, stabbed to the heart. Blood red 
Flows on the lily whiteness of her breast. 

JVe. Some one has murder done! 

Offi. In dexter hand 

She clasped the dagger jealous of her life. 
And self-infliction helped it to its work. 



116 DBAMATIC POEMS. 

Ne, Art certain, man, it is Antigone? 

0^. Certain! Upon the temple's marble steps, 
Ascending she to worship, have I seen 
Her frequently, as people nodding said: 
There goes Antigone, soon (EcUpus, 
Her father blind, to lead. Hoio filial she! 
Then on she moved amid a general hush. 
Unlike she was to any woman else 
In Thebes, so dear to high and low! Now sleeps 
That figure (swine it snuffing when we saw 
It first) ne'er to awake again. 

JVe. Let 's hence. 

This work will anger more the king. Thus foiled 
His mandate, breed it may annoying hints, 
Until his palace with contention sounds. 
But go to her at once, then go to him. 
Come, come! delay answers effect not well. 

Exeunt Nearchus and Officer. 

Is. Now, think of it! — so warm of late, now cold! 
Her virtues turned to a sad monument! 
Oh, would it were not so! . . . Desert me not, 
O strength! I would have thee support these limbs 
E'en to the green spot where she lies. But how 
Is this? Frailty with crippled gait is here 
Instead, when I should hasten to her corse — 
Ah, there should go all out of breath, and cast 
Me down, and weep affliction out. She gone. 
My father gone, my brothers gone, and I 



THE DAUGHTEBS OF (EDIPUS. 117 

Alone — these things possession have. A numb 
Sensation steals, as poppy's dreamy fume, 
Arousing then depressing efforts made. 
That waning would resign. This knot on knot 
In woof of present to unweave repels 
Less skill than Tate's; but she in distance grim, 
For race of CEdipus admonishment. 
Is as a thunder-cloud. Then joy is sin 
IMien Time atonement for fatality 
Invokes, to answer stage by stage unto 
The tomb. . . . Antigone, all spectral now, 
Thou art so severed from this earth, the loss 
Not its, but Ismene's — so much, no gain 
From other one existing can restore. 
Removing to a bourn, in that reserved 
In shadow-land no footstep to invite 
Pursuit behind, I would be old more near 
To be the path on which, descending now, 
Thou art at peace; I would be old, forgot 
Youth's weariness, to feel soft tremors come; 
The fading day of self into its night 
To undulate. . . . But how is this? Oh! Oh! 
How sight doth fail! The footsteps halt! I would 
Recline somewhere. ^N'ot here. A\Tiere shall I go? 
Each sense, how dull! . . . O Antigone, me return! 

[She swoons. 

THE END. 



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